#consider me out of commission for today due to me suffering a lot ;;

[sam-glade]

Happy WBW! Since my pain is acting up thanks to the weather rendering me a barely moveable blob, I like to know today all about how disabled folks are viewed in your setting. Are they active members of the society? Seen as touched by the gods? Or even cursed by them? What about medical aids such as wheelchairs, hearings aids and such?

Hi Wynne! Hope the weather will change soon. I do love the question though.

All right, this isn't going to be a happy answer.

In Days of Dusk (based on real world's second half of the 18th century), we're way before the times of universal healthcare, and the state of medicine is in general terrible (pharmacology and psychiatry are a bit ahead of the time, but everything else - way behind). There are hospitals sponsored by wealthy individuals or families (nobility, aristocracy, guildmasters, etc.), sometimes genuinely, sometimes as publicity stunts, and they try to provide various aids to those they can reach, but those tend to be unsophisticated and barely enough.

Since gods don't exist - there's worship of the Five Elements and a belief in the Fate creating the Tapestry of Life, in which everyone's story is laid out for them - people with disabilities are neither touched by gods nor considered cursed, just unlucky and not favoured by the Fate. The attitude of their families and others around them depends a lot on how independent they are - someone who has difficulties walking can probably do fine as a potter or a weaver, even if they have to ask a family member or a friend to sell their work at a market, while someone needing a full-time caretaker is unlikely to fare well. It also means that the better off the family is, the easier the life gets for them.

Some visible disabilities present at birth can be healed with magical powers, but good luck finding a Crystal who can do it in the first place (the Army kind of hoards them). And they probably can't do much about invisible disabilities, due to lack of knowledge.

Here are some concrete examples:

The White Dragon, the legendary First Prince, suffered a permanent contusion during his last field mission fifty years ago. He's now wheelchair-bound. But, seeing as he is the wealthiest, most influential person in the entirety of the Sunblessed Realm, he can afford any accommodations he needs. Wheelchairs that could be pushed by others were a thing before his injury, however he's the sort of stubborn, independent person who commissioned engineers to develop a wheelchair he could propel himself (I imagine like the modern ones, with push-rims), as well as a special saddle, so he can still ride horses, though he can't mount the horse on his own. Similarly, modifications were made to his home - ramps along the steps leading to the main and back entrance, and probably a manually-powered lift. Still, he used it as an excuse to abdicate and pass the title of the Prince of Light to Anthea. There were other political factors, but the fact that he'd have to travel from the residence to the townhall to attend his duties, and that the townhall isn't at all accessible played into it a lot. But of course that's a special case of a very wealthy individual, and there are few who can afford it. Still, while I don't go into the broader details on page, I slightly hope that the example of him helped some other folks with movement-related and especially acquired disabilities.

I want to bring up Erya as an example as well. She has albinism, and has the exact opposite background to the prince. She doesn't know her father, and her mother was living in poverty, and decided that a child who gets so easily sunburnt that they can't spend days outside, and who looks so different that the mother didn't want to be seen with them, was too much of a burden. She abandoned Erya to fend for herself when Erya was about ten and it was obvious that she'd never look 'normal'. Erya survived in part thanks to her Sword - it allows her to manipulate shadows, so if she wears a hat, she can make the shadows darker and larger - and as with any Sword, it makes her more resilient and helps her heal faster. And in part, it was thanks to having a more nocturnal lifestyle, when being a part of the criminal underworld. Master Varré was her mentor and they brought her to the military academy, where they pulled some strings so that she can wear a wide-brimmed hat, which isn't normally a part of the uniform.

And by the time of The Truth Teller (1960s-ish) universal healthcare is becoming a thing. Additionally there exist educational and other institutions for children with special needs - I've seen examples of such institutions starting from mid-19th century in Poland, so they seem to fit perfectly well in the setting. They'd teach sign language, tailor their teaching methods to the pupils' needs, probably have some staff with medical background. There are also state-subsidised workplaces that hire people with disabilities - quite often factories with repetitive manual labour, like making brushes or packaging products. Unless you're Knacked. Then you're screwed. Lirivan is an example here. He was born with clubfoot (affecting both feet) and to a rather neglectful family, who didn't see him through the full treatment when he was a child, despite it being fairly simple and safe. Also, no access to magical healing at this point in time whatsoever. His parents at least got crutches for him, but not modded shoes as he was growing up. And since he turned out to be Knacked just before reaching adulthood - well, his prospects aren't looking bright at the beginning of the story. At that point he relies on crutches and is visibly disabled, but doesn't qualify for any aid from the state, because of his Knack.

#days of dusk #the truth teller #wbw #ask and i shall answer #disability

[beaversatemygrandma]

My little old dorky lady finally reached her end date on the 27th. She was 15. She's lived well beyond her time, being perfect every bit of it. 2009 to 2024. You did Very Good, girl. I miss Tabby so damn much.

This week started with her being suspiciously inert. We woke up in the morning to her not in her bed and found her flopped over her bed in the living room. She wouldn't even get up to attempts of opening the door for her or even treats. We ended up carrying her downstairs just to see if being in the grass would help her want to get up and go to the bathroom, but nothing.

I ended up sitting with her on the porch for two hours after that, just trying to get something out of her. She would at least lean into my hand when I'd pet her and was asking me to put her up on her bed by scooting closer to it with what little strength she had.

It was just really weird considering the day before she wanted to go on a mile walk and exhaust me in the process.

I ended up calling the vet and taking her in not too long after that and as soon as the vet saw her, they were rushing her into care. IVs, ultrasound, everything. Turns out her spleen ruptured and her stomach was filled with liquid and with her being as old as she is, there was no saving her. We had to have her put to sleep within the hour so she wouldn't be suffering.

I was crying, my bf was beyond ugly crying in that vet waiting room. And the vet even said that all her tension disappeared when the door opened and she saw us. Tabby loved and needed us around for this. It was so hard to see her go but it was her time.

I spent the drive home trying and failing to stifle the tears and the house is just so quiet and empty without her. I swear the cat is still looking for her now.

And then there was just issues on issues after this. We're just processing losing Tabby and suddenly there's a wild fire like a mile out, our power gets cut, and if it grew past where it was we'd have to evacuate. Thankfully it didn't grow, but even today, that area is smoking. It's grim tbh. THEN we had to go get insulin for my bf and as it turns out we were entirely unaware of this cyberattack on healthcare sites which put a lot of pharmacies out of commission when it comes to online orders, so we're going to be going in and out of town for the next couple days because he's low.

I haven't had time to work between all of this. I at least got an hour before cutting myself off because my quality was lowering due to Late Night.

Ugh.

#taks speaks #tw animal death #between tabby going. the wild fire. and whatever the hell is going on with pharmacies this is a Fucking Week #it's not even angering. it's just funny how BAD it all has been

[mrpenguinpants]

Genshin: Roommate HCs [V1]

To be honest, I just wanted to ramble some more and let my brainworms take over. This is sorta late but Happy Valentine’s everyone! I was gonna post this earlier but this honestly took me a long time to write so I moved it to today. 

Once again, this is 90% crack 10% content. Seriously, as much as I love writing this non-serious fics. Why do you people like this?

—

Based off my ramblings with Keqing anon: Link

Genshin: Holding Hands [V1]

Genshin: When you’re cold [V1]

Genshin: University AU [V1]

Genshin: Royalty AU [V1]

[Masterlist]

—

[taglist]  <- if you want to be added, please read this first.

@youaskedfurret @diaxfeliz @wintergreen-aix @kaechu @thegayrubberducky @lovelykittycatmeow @yuunoagivesmelife​  @dokidokisama @rokipersonal​@minakohasmanyhusbandos​ @strwbrry-lia @tigerpriestess​ @yuu-yuukurotsuki​ @hanniejji​  @mikeysbike @unionwitch @musekala @sunnshiii​ @stanzastic @akaasea​ @xoneaboveallx​ @adoring-ghost​ @asheseiler​ @childelover​ @dilucsz​ @dai-tsukki-desu​ @thicmitten​ @nonniechan​ @htnicayh​ @genshins1mpact​ 

---

Diluc

What? Diluc has a roommate? Did you blackmail him in living with you? Is that even possible? Did you throw yourself in front of his car because you needed someone to pay for your student loans and the easiest way was to file a lawsuit? In this economy no one would blame you. Diluc seems like such the self-isolated character that would murder his roommate in cold blood but in reality, he act’s detached from the world because he forgot how to socialize and he’s desperately trying to cover it up without choking. That or he’s trying to learn how to astral project. If he could drink away the pain he would but instead he buys 20 packs of grape Kool-Aid and injects it into his veins. 

Does not and will not ever have a normal sleeping schedule. You’ll wake up to him working, come back home to him working, and will sleep to him still working. His daily dose of Vitamin D is from the brightness of his screen rather than the sun and he’s filter feeding at this point. It’s concerning. He’s going to crumble and he’s bringing the world down with him. Through the power of tax evasion. But as soon as he needs to walk out into society, he pulls movie magic and looks like perfection. It’s both physically and mentally disgusting. 

He’s actually is a really nice roommate to have just so long as you give him space. Great cook and knows to clean up after himself. Though he does have crash and burn days where’s he’s completely out of commission. You could set the entire apartment on fire and he would sleep through it. The entire two weeks are dedicated to zombie eye marathons and then he’ll suddenly collapse and sleep for 46 hours straight. When he wakes up from his hibernation he’s the most groggy and nonsensical person. His life blood is coffee because you keep hiding the 5 hour energy away from him because, you know, life is enjoyable and those cancer bottles will actually kill him.  

“University sucks our money out of our bodies faster than our will to live.” 

Beidou [Happy Birthday Queen 💕]

Despite her appearance, she’s actually really strong and it scares the piss out of you when you’re doing something or scrolling through your phone mindlessly and you suddenly get your spine re-arranged when she slaps you on the back to ask what you’re doing. Likewise, when she hoists you up and throws you over her shoulder so you come with her on her 3am convivence store raids for alcohol. It’s either you change now or else we’re walking out of the apartment in your t-shirt and no pants self. She can and will carry you under her arm that way. It’s both incredibly attractive and horrifying at the same time. 

She’s really friendly and a great talker if you’re alright with her “I must hold you in my arms, fresh prince of bel air style”. It doesn’t matter if you’re taller than her, she’s doing it. She does however, get in a bit of trouble from her rowdiness and you often get noise complaints but Beidou just passes them off to Ningguang and everything is fixed. She has ovaries of steel when neighbors rather confront her personally and she’s ready to 1v1 in the parking lot. You’re trying to desperately hold onto her shirt to stop her from pile driving your neighbors for the third time this week but she’s too strong.  

She’s constant party until we die attitude and suffers the hangover in the morning. It’s actually really funny to catch her in her hangover moods because whatever filter Beidou had, which is none, is gone. She really takes “cursing like a sailor” or the next level and the amount of creativity she comes up with is actually impressive. She can be a bit messy but she’s really likeable and always down to go anywhere with you as long as you’ll do the same. It’s a very ride together, we die together situation. You’re my best friend, you’re dying with me. I’ll see you in hell. 

“Imma T pose over my dad and then crash the car into the parking garage.” 

Kaeya

Kaeya on the surface seems like such a chill roommate. And he is for the most part. But he’s such an ass. Your things are his things, no questions asked. If you just bought a really nice sweater or you had leftover food, that’s his now. He’s innocent until proven guilty even if he’s literally holding your lunch. The pure amount of bullshit he can spit out to convince you that no, he did not pull the fire alarm because he wanted an excuse for not going to work, puts him on Shakespeare level. He’s also very pretty, way too pretty, sir can you share some of your genes? 

But aside from that, he’s actually super dependable. You forgot something at home? Sure, he has nothing better to do so he can bring them for you. We’re missing eggs? No problem, he’s just by the store. You’re 95% sure that he just wants to be cheeky and make you thank him for 20 minutes before he actually hands you what you asked for. It’s better for you if you never tell him anything you’re afraid of because Kaeya has no social cues, or more like he throws them out the window, and he’s probably a psychopath. 

He’s incredibly private of his room and things despite his attitude towards yours. You’re convinced he either has a secret lab or that’s where he’s storing the bodies. I was the good guy but due to unfortunate circumstances, I need to stab a bitch. But he’s a really good serious talker for those 3am, because everything happens at 3am, talks about life and the meaning of the universe. It absolutely wrecks your sleep schedule but some of the things you talk about are the most crackhead things like what’s the lowest amount of money someone would have to pay you to walk outside without clothes? It’s a legitimate question. 

“Never before have I been so offended with something I 100% agree with.”

Jean

Okay, what world did you save in a past life to live with his absolutely wonderful woman? Mother Teresa take a load off, take a seat. You have nothing to worry about. She’ll bring home little treats back home and it’s the most wholesome thing ever?? Is this what love and affection feels like? We’ve been starved for so long. She says it’s not a big deal and anyone would do it BUT THE MOMENT SOMEONE BUYS FOOD FOR YOU. IT’S A MAGICAL MOMENT. They are forever stuck in your will until proven otherwise. An absolute ray of sunshine that must be protected. 

She does get super busy so you don’t often see each other or get to hang out as much. She’s a bit of a workaholic but a lot more easier to talk her into taking a break. She’s also a pretty decent cook but she prefers baking and jesus christ, girl can you calm down? Be still my beating heart, I’ve been smitten. Has mother hen vibes that you’re not sure if she’s your roommate or if she adopted you into her family. It’s time to start a petition for the Jean protection squad. Given the opportunity, I would aggressively hold your hand. 

She’s always open to whatever you want to do. Any recommendations or things that you like she will try out at least once despite her busy schedule. She’s lowkey lonely because work consumes her so any time you want to hang out or do something together, she jumps on it like she’s feral. She get’s a bit shy to ask if she can join in on your plans because she doesn’t want to bother you or intrude no matter how many times you tell her that’s okay, she still get’s a bit iffy about it. Please save this girl before she trips. In your arms. Platonically. Just kidding haha. Unless?

“I can’t wait to see you happy and not hating everyone again haha.”

Childe

First impressions of Childe were great, until he opened his mouth and you realized how much of a two brain cell child(e) he was. He has two braincells because they constantly have to 1v1 in his brain. He’s lived with a lot of siblings so he has no social awareness or concept of privacy that you’re lucky if you come home and he’s half-dressed. It doesn’t matter if you’re 2 weeks older than him, he’s going to call you 82 years old and why your bones aren’t being fossilized at this point. He’s such a little shit, this fucker licks the yogurt lid peel.  

He get’s really restless when he’s stuck under house arrest, because apparently 1v1ing in the parking lot of a Wendy’s is illegal for some reason, so he makes dying whale noises until he get’s to go outside again. But he’s actually a really wholesome guy, probably because of his younger siblings, that he’ll sometimes get you something because you seemed down and it’s such whiplash? Who is this man and where did he come from? You’re starting to have a change of heart before he tells you that he got banned from the library for accidently punching the school’s computer. How you “accidently” punch something you have no idea but Childe always comes home with some sort of injury. Maybe he’s just incredibly clumsy. For your sanity, you’re going to go with that. 

He’s actually so uncultured that it’s crippling. You can’t blame him too much considering his upbringing and it’s great that he’s so interested in learning new things but...child no...It makes you want to take your spine out of your ass and rip it like a Beyblade. Watching him take chopsticks and stab his food like it’s marshmallows makes you want to fall into a blackhole and let the chair consume you. 

“I, too, fantasize about beating the living shit out of people.”

---

Is this another tag yourself game cause I resonate with Diluc. I’m crying in insomnia. As much as I enjoy writing these fics I absolutely hate tagging them. I remember I used to have a tag anon but that was back when I wrote for bnha. 

Valentine’s Day was fun tho. I had a drinking game with friends as we played league then ended it off with a movie night. 

#genshin #genshin impact #genshin x reader #genshin impact x reader #genshin imagines #genshin impact imagines #genshin fanfic #genshin impact fanfiction #genshin headcanons #genshin impact headcanons #genshin crack #genshin impact crack #genshin impact childe #childe x reader #genshin childe x reader #genshin impact diluc #diluc x reader #genshin diluc x reader #genshin impact beidou #beidou x reader #genshin beidou x reader #genshin impact jean #genshin jean x reader #jean x reader #genshin impact kaeya #kaeya x reader #genshin kaeya x reader

[otterskin]

Lokabrenna - Loki & Fire & Swords, Part 2

This is a sequel to this post here

This is why I don’t mind trailing off in a post sometimes. People come by and give me new information to chase. Thanks to @whatyoufish4​ for informing me of some more Loki-Fire facts. Because learning one simple word has taken me down a rabbit hole...

Lokabrenna translates as “Loki’s Torch” or “Loki’s Burning”.

Lokabrenna was the Scandinavian name for the North Star, AKA Sirius, AKA the Dog Star, AKA My Favourite Harry Potter Character. 

It’s also, Google informs me, the name of a Black Metal album by Nawaharjan (meaning Corpse Army, which may be another reference to Loki, neat), released in February of 2020.

I’m not much of one for black metal, but I found the description of why the band chose to name their album after Lokabrenna good for our purposes as well:

“The album’s namesake, Lokabrenna is the Scandinavian name for the star Sirius...The star is associated with important destructive and liberating attributes in many cultures worldwide.

“Within the Brandawegiz tradition, Lokabrenna is associated with the liberating powers of Loki. It is also linked to the destruction of the cosmos that follows after the release of the flaming sword Lævateinn during Ragnarök and Loki’s transformation into his final, liberating aspect Hveðrungr.”

I’m not sure what or who “Brandawegiz“ is, I think it’s something to do with metal music and therefore very outside my knowledge - but now I’m beating myself over the head for failing to mention the sword Lævateinn! Because this is the sword forged by Loki himself in Norse Mythology! Although there’s some contention there - some think it’s more of a magic wand or staff, or maybe a dart or arrow, or perhaps even a shape-shifting weapon. Apparently that’s due to contention over how to translate the name. To quote Wikipedia:

To be fair, Lævateinn or læ-wand can have three possible senses of meaning,[11]...The three meanings of læ (the nominative case of læva) are: "cunning", "deception", and "injury".[12][13] The weapon's name is glossed as "wand of non deceit" in passing without further explanation by Einar Ólafur Sveinsson.[1][14]

Wand of non-deceit? Sounds a little like a thesaurus reworking of ‘Sword of Truth’. Probably a coincidence, but...when it comes to these posts, I make coincidence a three-course meal with an ice cream stopped for on the way home. 

So, anyway - Lævateinn. It’s from a poem called the Fjölsvinnsmál, one of the youngest Eddic poems. And it has a great deal of fire in it.

To sum up a very old, partially corrupted and very confusing story and cut to what interests us today, there’s essentially a hero named Svipdagr, who’s got to kill the Rooster at the top of Yggdrasil as part of his quest to wed Menglöð, who is trapped inside a fortress made of fire. The only weapon that can slay the celestial cockerel is the flaming sword Lævateinn, forged by Loki.

This is interesting, because other than this I’d not much heard of Loki being connected to forging - that was always Thor, who has many ties to blacksmiths. Then again, Loki is around dwarves a lot - maybe he learned a thing or two after commissioning Thor’s hammer from them in the first place. How interesting that Marvel comics have Loki again forging his own weapons as well.

The poem also implies that the hall of flames was also constructed by Loki. How interesting. This poem leaves a lot of questions - why did Loki forge the cockerel-slaying blade, and construct the hall? Well, the cockerel is probably related to the one that raises Odin’s soldiers from the dead with his radio-clock-alarm call. And the hall contains Menglöð and will only open to a hero with the true name Svipdagr, but only if he kills the cockerel. So it would seem implied that this was Loki’s plan, or some sort of destiny driving everything towards Ragnarok and end of days.

(I’d like to recommend this post, which goes into much more detail about Loki’s role in this poem. It also gives more details on why some think Loki was originally a fire giant and his connection to Surtur, expanding what I touched on previously.)

Speaking of driving everything towards Ragnarok - what about this bit of that wonderful album write-up?

Loki’s transformation into his final, liberating aspect Hveðrungr.

Hveðrungr - A name meaning ‘Roaring’, as in the sound of an out-of-control conflagration, or that of a howling storm. It appears as a name for Loki in the Völuspa  (incidentally, I’ve been using parts of that poem in Finnesang), which is a seer’s prophecy about Ragnarok. It’s the name used for Loki as an apocalypse-bringer.

I like what Nawaharjan are implying here when they say that Hveðrungr is a liberating aspect of Loki - I’ve always felt bad about Loki’s transformation into the world-destroyer Snorri Sturluson helped make him and considered it a character assassination of the lighter character I’d come to love in my Norse Mythology books as a child. Yet this different perspective is one to consider. The album cover depicts Loki’s flaming sword severing the chains that bound him to the rock, where he was tortured by acidic serpent’s venom by the Aesir, the people he both despised and desperately wanted to be loved by. In freeing himself and beginning Ragnarok, in unleashing all of his fury and pent-up destructiveness, maybe he did become someone else - a Roaring. After all that treachery, maybe it was cleansing.

I seriously want a copy of this LP now, and I’m positive I won’t really listen to the music too much, ha ha. It’s just so shiny!

To doubleback to where we all started with this, though - Lokabrenna, the star. Let’s get serious about Sirius for a second.

It’s the brightest star in the sky and used as North in navigation. Ancient Greeks believed it could make dogs behave strangely in summer (where the term ‘Dog days of summer’ comes from). It can be seen as a star of ill repute. Homer describes it in the Iliad as:

Sirius rises late in the dark, liquid sky On summer nights, star of stars, Orion's Dog they call it, brightest Of all, but an evil portent, bringing heat And fevers to suffering humanity.

Interestingly, many indigenous people in North America also associated the star with canines. The Cherokee believed it one of a pair of guardian dogs on either end of the Path of Souls. Some Inuit tribes called it the ‘Moon Dog’, while the Pawnee tribe called it Coyote Star (another famous trickster) or Wolf Star. Funnily enough, Chinese astronomy called it the ‘celestial wolf’ as well. 

No matter where, though, Sirius is one of the most important celestial bodies there is thanks to its role in navigation. It’s odd that the Norse decided to name it “Loki’s Torch”, especially since Loki has a strange place in the pantheon, with few known worshipers. They could have called it Odin’s Eye, or Thor’s Toe-Nail Clipping, or Fenrir’s Spittle - but it’s called Lokabrenna. A guiding torch to lead people home or out into the unknown.  

Loki with his torch, alternative cover for Lokabrenna (2020)

#loki #fire #meta #odin #ragnarok #thor #loki trailer theory #loki trailer #lokabrenna #sirius #sword

[doodle-zombie]

Lamia Bonding #6: Coral Appreciation

Gotta say, I really love the boys I got from @vex-bittys and I think I feel confident enough in their personalities to, perhaps, make a fic about my lamia/bitty journey!

It was a productive evening. Valerie had finished a commission for several concept sketches in the latest contract she’d signed into and she had put the final touches on a larger piece she’d done freelance. She had even put something in the slow cooker for her and Currant to eat later since Marmalade was out hunting and would likely catch himself something to eat. There wasn’t much worry when her Chain went out to hunt since he was close to being the largest predator roaming the woods around her home. Currant was curled within the blanket nest she had set up when she was drinking her first cup of coffee that morning, following Marmalade waking her at a normal hour since she had a deadline. It wasn’t uncommon for her Coral to snatch up any comfortable spot she vacated.

The house was pretty quiet. She’d been so in the zone that the video playlist she’d queued had reached the end and autoplay was turned off.

Luckily, Val knew how to crush the silence and she was due to give Currant his favorite mustard chips to snack on. His snacking times were carefully regulated since she didn’t want him to get so big he couldn’t move but she didn’t want him to suffer either. Currant had developed a deep affection for his favorite chips and he loved when she made him sample platters so he could try new things dipped in mustard. It was about time for a break anyway and what better way to spend it than giving Currant some love.

She opened her music program and queued up a random playlist to fill the resounding silence before pushing away from the desk and shuffling towards the kitchen. Red eye lights followed her along but Currant made no move to follow… yet. It was a bit of a game to be played because Currant could be fairly lazy when he wanted and getting him to exercise was out of the question. But he could be convinced to do some things to keep him moving, so long as she was sneaky.

Currant knew what she was doing, of course. He wasn’t stupid. But he humored her more often than not.

The effort to keep him active was maximized today, however. A song that Valerie loved came on. Currant was small enough she could have just snatched him up but that would just make him less likely to indulge her. Instead, Val grabbed one of the pre-portioned bags of his snack and set it on the edge of the desk. The lemon-yellow color was immediately recognizable to Currant, whose red eye lights darted to where she was standing with her arms out towards him and where she had put the food.

He could bypass her entirely and get his snack with no consequences. Val never made them do anything but she especially let Currant know he could refuse at any point.

But if he refused her hands and went for his snack he would miss out on more one-on-one interaction with his human. Valerie would be disappointed and she would go back to work quicker. Marmalade wasn’t in the house to see if Currant did anything uncharacteristic for a Coral (not that the Chain cared, he just loved how anything Currant did made Val’s SOUL brighten).

Currant got up, grumbling as was expected of him, and slithered up to Val. He didn’t grab her hands, though. Just offered his own bare-boned phalanges and withheld the little quiver when she held him. There might not have been a bond between them just yet but Currant could feel just how proud she was, encouraging him to wrap around her so she could sway to the music. He had to maintain just the right amount of pressure to keep himself from falling but it wasn’t so rigorous that he would lose magic through sweat.

“I’m a little O.D.D.,” she sang, wrapping her arms around his ribs so he didn’t fall. “I see the way they look at me.”

Honestly, Currant had never met a human that went through so much trouble for a Coral. They were venomous, considered ill-tempered, and could be very distant to the inexperienced. But Valerie had been caring and understanding from the very moment she’d brought him home. Even though he wasn’t the only lamia in the house he still got more than enough affection and she wasn’t phased by even his grumpiest moments. He could hiss and spit all he wanted and her voice stayed gentle when she told him she’d leave him be until snack time. The house wasn’t the only place he could go, either. There were caves decorated around the outside that he could retreat to.

Valerie enjoyed the subtle weight of Currant around her, petting the back of his head and feeling the way he tensed and coiled whenever he thought he might slip. It was a trust exercise and he was doing awesome. When a few songs had passed she gathered the snack and Currant so they could collapse onto the sofa in a tangle of limbs and tail. There was a brief hiss of displeasure but nothing serious and she got the glorious privilege of hearing the happy purrs of Currant enjoying his snack.

Of course, Marmalade chose that moment to appear.

Unlike Currant’s carefully regulated snack times, Marmalade had free reign of the chocolate that he could find. Because Marmalade was much more active and spent a lot of time patrolling outside the house, he had absolute access to any food item he wanted in the house. He was careful to avoid whatever Currant liked best, the darling that he was.

“Such a sweet boy,” Val greeted, feeling the nuzzle against her temple before she had even seen her Chain. She could vaguely feel the relaxed emotions he was feeling and had no doubt he could tell that she was beyond ecstatic to have them both around. “Terrorized the local rabbits enough, eh?”

“For now,” was Marmalade’s smug reply.

Stars, he was going to be a menace to the wildlife when she adopted a Mamba…

#zombie writes #currant #marmalade #lamiatale #my precious boys <3

[potteresque-ire]

(I wrote this as a response to another post. It got long, potentially upsetting, so I decided to move it here.)

(TW: Criticism of Draco Malfoy under the cut.)

I think the best analogy I can come up with for Slytherins in an Americanized Hogwarts is if they are the children of the tech giants (Hello Draco Bezos) and multi-company conglomerates, the top-earning Wall Street hedge fund managers, the property moguls like the Trumps and the Bloombergs, and the legacy politicians like the Bushes and the Kennedys. This would be a fairer comparison to the social-economic power of Slytherin families in the books because conservatives in the USA mostly do not come from privileged homes. And I suspect even this American analogue may pale to its UK counterpart, for it lacks the centuries of practice ("tradition”) as a convenient excuse for continuing its underlying bigotry.

Draco Bezos or Draco Trump or Draco Bush has as little choice as being of these surnames as Draco Malfoy. The members of the Americanized Slytherin house, likewise, don’t deserve to be seen as all evil, and maybe — and very likely — they’re not. But consider what Americanized Ron would think about the Slytherins as a group, bearing in mind that the books are written in the POV of Harry, a child himself and Ron’s fierce friend, if…

(Under the cut, for I’m VERY talkative today ...)

- If this Americanized Draco still buys his way into the Quidditch team with a Nimbus 2001. The obvious bribery aside, everyone in this Slytherin team can readily afford the same thing, and likely already has, at least, a Nimbus 2000 in possession.

- If Americanized Lucius also interferes with school policy with connections to Washington; he rubs shoulders with Secretary of Education Umbridge, who he got to know back when they were lobbying together in the capital.

- If the execution weapon of choice for Buckbeak is a golf club, a gift from the President Goyle of MACUSA. Walden McNair, former Slytherin, has just received a medal of honour for being able to wield it with style. This is a tale retold by a very bitter Theodore Nott, whose father owns the golf course resort where President Goyle plays but Nott Sr. only gets to keep the hamburger wraps of the President’s lunch. The other regular attendee of these lunches is the landowner of the entire Hogsmeade, who happens to be Gregory Goyle’s father.

And speaking of Hogsmeade...

- If Goyle Inc. hikes the rent of the town after every visit by Hogwarts students. Prices of items sold in Hogsmeade shops hike accordingly to deflect the cost. The Weasleys haven’t been able to afford anything there for years.

Goyle Inc. has also been looking to invest in Ottery St Catchpole, re-develop the area into one with ... farmer’s market. Lots and lots of farmer’s markets where a loaf of bread costs $10.00 apiece.

- If American Hogwarts is also free but God knows for how long. Its profits from the previous years — sorry, not profit, but endowment as should be referred to for non-profit organisations — has been channelled into the stock market and the stock market hasn’t been doing so well. Mrs Zabini, the manager of the fund, still gets her commission even if Hogwarts goes bankrupt. In fact, a volatile market with high trading volumes is a godsend for her income, and her yearly bonus is large enough to run Hogwarts for a year. She’s very generous, however, and donates 1% of it to the school, which gets her name engraved on the Gryffindor-Zabini Tower.

Meanwhile, if the Weasleys go home every summer not knowing if they can return to the same tower on September 1st.

- If Skelegro and other potions in the infirmary are rationed due to high cost and every time a Weasley find themselves injured in a Quidditch match, the Malfoys, father or son or both, would remark on the Weasleys having more children than they can afford, and recommend the school board that these potions should be rationed by surname as well. The Slytherins have no such concerns of course; the Parkinsons are heads of an international potion conglomerate and they can always import extra potions from Brazil, which are sold at a small fraction of the cost they sold to Hogwarts (yes, they have the licence and patent to produce the Skelegro. Why did you ask?).

…

Perhaps -- assuming my understanding of UK’s class system isn’t too off the mark -- these if’s can provide a sense of Slytherin’s privilege in canon to the American audience, and related to this, how Draco’s prejudice towards Ron cannot be put on the same moral scale from Ron’s prejudice against Draco. I’d also like to emphasize this: I haven’t touched at all, on this list, on Voldemort’s reign of terror. I haven’t touched, at all, on the fact that Voldemort’s war had been spearheaded by the parents of many current Slytherin students, and this war had only been suspended -- not ended -- for just short of a decade when the Class of Harry Potter entered Hogwarts. The wounds were still fresh. Arthur and Molly could’ve easily suffered similar fates as the Potters and the Longbottom’s. The bigotry of the Slytherins, and of the Malfoys, wasn’t merely a suspected thing in the canon years, like how we feel about a celebrity who’s made a questionable tweet. Not only was their bigotry a fact in the canon years, but it was also a real, ongoing threat that, if permitted to run its course, could and would ruin the lives of the Weasleys.

Ron seeing the Slytherins as a threat arguably served the dual function of keeping him safe -- perhaps not at the moment, but in the future. Draco, on the other hand, had nothing to fear about Ron and above all, the socioeconomic class that the Weasleys represented.

They never stood on equal grounds.

And here’s the thing I don’t understand. Or I think I understand it, having seen this Ron-is-as-bad-as-Draco-and-Slytherins-are-victims-of Dumbledore’s-prejudice debate in various forms over the years — this isn’t new or controversial, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this has become the dominant view within the ship — and I’m not sure I can get myself to face what I’ve understood, because what this is is worrisome for me.

Please hear me out.

The Drarry fandom on Tumblr has, in my observation, always taken a very strong, hardline stance against prejudice. The post that says something along the line of 10 people who sits with a Nazi makes a table of 11 Nazis get numerous likes and reblogs. And yet in this situation, we have a boy, Ron, who is directly affected by the prejudice, who’s familiar with the connections between his Slytherin classmates and those who have not only worked to make their brand of bigotry the law but helped murder those who do not agree, and his distaste for these oppressors as a group is somehow seen as equal as his likely future oppressors’ disgust at his presence.

The reason given is inevitably a variation of this: Draco was a child. He was parroting his parent’s beliefs. He was too young to be responsible for his words, or his actions. He was a victim.

I’ve not seen this defence offered, not even once within the Drarry circle, for a real-life bully. Tumblr’s user base is young, and many have a history of being bullied due to their race, gender, sexuality, disability, socioeconomic class. After a bit of subtraction (Young Age - Bullying History in Years), I’d take that many of these RL events happened when the victim and the perpetrator were about the age of Ron and Draco in canon. And yet, not once have I seen a shipper on my dash suggest the bully was a victim, or that they weren’t at fault because they were only parroting the prejudice of their conservative families, their schools, their religion etc. That maybe they didn’t mean what they were saying or doing.

This is a (very) good thing. But it also makes me wonder: defenders of Draco and the Slytherins do know, deep down, that the excuse they’ve offered Draco isn’t nearly good enough to exempt him from his behaviour.

Draco might not have understood the greater political ramifications of his bullying, but he knew he was hurting Ron. Bullying cannot a be mindless act; it cannot be a passive reflection of one’s lessons from school or family for It’s a pre-meditated, targeted behaviour, and a good bully like Draco — he came up with a bullying chant that the whole school knew in the end — tailors his acts to serve a specific purpose of hurting the victim. Draco might not have known that calling Hermione a Mudblood could devalue her life enough to make it ripe for elimination when Voldemort came to power, but he knew perfectly well that the term was derogatory. This is especially true if one agrees with the common headcanon that Draco was second only to Hermione in marks in school, that he was no Crabbe or Goyle and he was intelligent.

Our ship celebrates Draco’s sharp tongue, but that tongue was used exclusively to ridicule, to bully in canon -- it’s fandom that has given it a better / higher / romantic purpose. His father’s tongue spoke the language of bigotry to the ears of the Ministry; this was the Malfoy’s weapon of choice and Draco was forging his own in the books. His bullying ways in canon was written with humour, with Weasley is Our King being the epitome of the laughs. I don’t believe it was JKR’s intention for her readers to fall in love with Draco via his bullying style, however. The HP world was built as a mirror of our own (rather than as a manual of what an ideal world should be, as many in fandom has seemed to assume), and Weasley is Our King showcased how easily bigotry can creep into our day-to-day language when it’s masqueraded as a joke (Even Luna was singing it at some point):

Oh, relax! It’s perfectly fine for everyone to know the Weasleys were born in a bin, into poverty! Funny, isn’t it? HAHAHAHA!

Imagine seeing this kind of behaviour on Tumblr. Imagine trying to defend this kind of behaviour on Tumblr.

I have faith that most of my Drarry friends cannot, will not do the latter.

So please, please reconsider what you’re really saying when you call Draco the victim, the vulnerable one, when you insist that he and the Slytherins had been wronged. I don’t mean to start another debate and I don’t plan to engage in one; this isn’t a call-out post either, I enjoy reading all the opinions expressed and I understand many of the sentiments I’m questioning comes from a place of love. I just hope that everyone who’s reading (thank you) can sit back, think a little. Imagine for a moment that table with the Nazis. Even if, at the table, there’re actually 10 Nazis and 1 who isn’t, who is more vulnerable? The non-Nazi sitting with the Nazis? Or the person who refuses to sit at the table and makes a bad judgement call on the 11th sitter by assuming they are a Nazi as well? Who is more the victim, or more likely to become one? The 11th sitter who’s wrongly labelled? Or the standing person who is being eyed by the 10 Nazis with disgust, the 10 Nazis who already have a family history of hunting down the standing person’s family and friends?

Or does the answer -- and this is the understanding I’ve got but haven’t dared to face -- does the answer depend on if he character in question had white-blond hair that glinted so beautifully in the sun? Is that the reason why Draco Malfoy, bigot, bully, has been given this special treatment, this carte blanche in the sense that he’ll always remain on our good side, be exempt from our moral judgement regardless of what he did, because his physical description doesn’t contain a single hint of melanin?

#pie speaks #hp meta #pie metas

[ashfaqqahmad]

Faith versus Logic Final

Could Shara’s rule be an ideal system?

Click here to read the previous part of this article

If you want to give the example of Sharia law as an example of low crime rate and safe environment, and then also consider that ten countries of the world with the lowest crime rate Iceland, Denmark, Austria, New Zealand, Portugal, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Canada, Japan, and Slovenia are there— so why not their system is ideal?

Sharia laws were defined at a time when there was a tribal culture in Arabia – the monarchy was the system. In that era, there were often wars for animals, women, domination, and expansion of power, in which women were widowed largely— to support them, more than one marriage or to make them mistress was allowed… what wars are happening now?

If the people living there accept it due to happiness or helplessness, but even if enjoying full civil liberties in democracy, the Sharia system of Saudi Arabia is attracting you, where there are restrictions at every step, then you are religiously ill— and you don’t want to think anything beyond faith. Even in that system, this thinking of mine will also come under Blasphemy because I raised the questions, whose punishment is death— do you want such a system? I really do not want it. The one who follows another religion cannot get citizenship there nor can he adopt his method of worship.

How did humans start their journey on earth

And in India, those who are advocates of Sharia seen wandering here and there – there is a request to them that even if our rule is a democracy, but as a true believer, they should apply the Sharia to themselves and don’t do anything which is wrong or a crime with the Shariah. For example—

Avoid the interest-bearing banking system— immediately cash whatever mutual funds, shares, FDs you have. Avoid stealing power, which is the most common custom among Muslims. If photos are not allowed in the house, then break the TV and throw it away. Since porn is also available on mobile and you can see a picture/video of unknown women on Facebook etc., then quit using your Smartphone and keep a simple buttoned mobile. Do not wear tight clothes (jeans, t-shirt, etc.). On the way, getting-up or sitting, do not look at any girl and woman. The Sharia has made the daughter a shareholder in the property, immediately give her due right to your sisters or daughters. These are the deeds which Momins are doing indiscriminately— the rest things like gambling, liquor, womanizing, are a different issue.

If you can do this much then try doing it, then after that, if you talk about Sharia law or Sharia, only then your say will matter to the people.

Did God make a man or the man, made God?

God created man or the man, made the God— this dispute may never be resolved, but an unseen God is in existence ever since the first human being in the world would have found first hope amid awe. Fear and hope – right here begins the God, and even though he may not have been known in any particular way then, but as man became smarter, God too became accepted in different forms and its separation is the prevalent “religion” at present.

Where did religion come from and how logical from the point of view of science?

The real meaning of religion is not what is in front of everyone in the world today, but its practical meaning is this— you are Hindus, I am Muslim, that is a Sikh, that is a Christian and that is Jew.

So for a while, free yourself from this tilak, cap, cross, turban— and find out what is religion? What is its real form— why is it and what has it given to you? What are you achieving from this religion?

Leave the past in the past, whatever was written in those books, was according to the circumstances of that time, was written to handle the humans of that time. Come in the present and think, can it be a religion to abuse someone, or to speak to someone with love should be the religion?

Can it be religious to hate someone or to love someone should be the religion? Taking someone’s life should be a religion or to save someone’s life? To take away someone’s right can be religion or to help any poor fellow to get his right? Can injustice done to someone be religion or give/help to get justice? To torture, someone with the opposite ideology can be religion or to give respect to people of other ideology?

Think as many questions like these as you can think, think those questions with closed eyes and introspect yourself honestly. Test your answers on the criterion of religion you have been carrying from generation to generation. Think, brainstorm what religion was for— why there was a need for religion and how you are practising that religion. Among Hindus too, “Meditation” is said to be the way to seek God and to connect oneself with him and in us too it is called “Salat”.

what possibilities are there in the universe outside our planet

Salat means meditation, that is, attaching oneself to God— the Prophet adopted this Salat as “Namaz”, Sufis in some other form— but later on people adopted Namaz as a rule and today its meaning is lost somewhere. Do not ask me this question, but ask yourself whether you reach that state of “meditation” in Namaz? That you feel connected to Allah or does your mind keep wandering in worldly additions/subtractions? Remains stuck in High pyjama or Skull cap?  Do you find yourself ever close to “Salat”? If not, find out the reason for that.

However, if by churning so much you do not get this pearl of knowledge, that to hurt someone is not a religion, but to help in someone’s suffering, to help him overcome his suffering is religion— then be sure, that there is a lacking in you being a human.

Religion, Iniquity and Foul-Iniquity

Here people are often seen asking the question, what is religion? So the question is right in its place but the answers of those in front can be different… Actually, when you say Religion in English or ‘Mazhab’ in Urdu, it has a direct and only meaning— The particular ideology, creed, the enclosure bound with the law of uniformity— but when you say ‘Dharm’ in Hindi, then it has two meanings. The first meaning that is commonly practised is Religion itself.

If God is there then how can it be from the point of view of science

But what it has as another meaning is, in fact, the actual meaning of the word “Religion”. Your good deeds— your behaviour that is in harmony with the welfare of humans, that actually is the religion. Now understand this in detail—

Every small or big practice of your entire life is divided into only three parts— Religion, Iniquity and Foul Iniquity. Maybe you ever gave attention to this or not— but every little or big work of yours, every small or big decision taken at every step of your life, comes only under these three rules.

Telling the truth, supporting the truth, living honestly, avoiding false deception, doing justice, to support the justice, to stand for the rights of the victim, to stand against the cruelty, not doing injustice, helping others, avoiding illegal, excluded and selfish deeds that are outcaste by society, means to say that everything you do for the betterment and welfare of human beings… is actually religion.

And on the contrary, whatever you do, the result of which is harmful, troublesome to any human being, which gives suffering… will come under the purview of Iniquity.

Now there is a link between them, that is, your acts which may seem iniquitous to appear but religion is hidden in them— that is a ‘Foul-Iniquity’ You can understand this with two or three examples— You lie in a place where telling the truth can be harmful to one or more humans— then that lie of yours is Foul-Iniquity. You steal somewhere, where the stolen goods have the welfare of others hidden behind them and not your selfishness, then that theft is a Foul-Iniquity.

You stand somewhere with a Cruel, and there you can help the victims in any way, then it is a Foul-Iniquity to stand with that cruel. You may or may not understand this, but every activity of yours is tied to these rules. And the interesting thing you will find is that it is the core of all religions. On this basis in the Gita, the ‘Kauravas’ were declared unjust by Lord Krishna, or else they also believed in the worship of God and other things— and in fact, “Kafir” in Islamic Mythology has also been determined on this basis. People derive the meaning of ‘Kafir’ as an atheist or non-Muslim according to their own belief.

what are the possibilities for new writers

Whereas, as a religious person, whatever rituals of worship, Aarti, Pilgrimage, Roza Namaz, Hajj, Zakat, etc. have you mistaken as religion, they, can be called the flattering methods or ritualism of God, but it is not the real religion. Real religion is your good conduct, with which if you do these rituals, then in a way we can see them as religion, but alas that it does not happen in practice.

The real religion is Humanity and not these worship methods

Let’s give many examples of this and explain— A true Momin believes in himself that by doing Namaz, keeping Roza, and doing Haj, he is doing a lot of good work and he will get a lot of praise for it – but while he sits at the shop and lying to the customer that this much of this merchandise is purchased, he can give it in that much— though this is not true. He is performing all the good rituals but he is sitting on the rented or untitled land occupied by a house or shop. The stolen light is glowing in the house and after washing himself with water pulled with that stolen electricity, he is reciting Namaz. He is eating sacred food made on the heater burning with that stolen electricity.

Consuming water, fans, lights obtained by direct theft or rigging of the electricity in the mosque, is washing himself and performing Namaz— Performs Haj and becomes a Haji with the money acquired through bribes, commissions, frauds, rigging or by other illegal means. Performing Namaz by surrounding roads as religious work, doing processions, even if all traffic is disrupted, may someone miss their train, plane or bus… or may someone die in an ambulance.

How to write a book in Microsoft word  

Similarly, a true Hindu by applying a Tilak on the forehead, ties a red thread in his hand, chanting Ram-Ram day and night, keeps on ringing bells for hours in temples— but at the same time lies, deceits, manipulations, deception are all being done. Donating from the money saved through commissions, bribe, black marketing, stealing tax. The religious pandals are decorated with stolen electricity. Narrating religious stories by installing big loudspeakers, DJ sound— whether there are sick people around, children going through exams or people are going crazy by the noise.

They have been occupying the streets in the name of Ganapati, Navratri, Kanvar processions, even though the traffic system is collapsing. By surrounding the roads in the name of Jagran or big sacred type of religious events and causing problems for the people wandering around— by making noise pollution from the heavy sound systems, making people around it sick— but thinking that he is doing very religious work and this will give him great virtue, which will lead him to salvation or heaven.

In the name of religion, all these people who commit hypocrisy, pretence are in deception— they are confused as to whether they are doing any religious work worth virtue. Actually, while knowing all of this, he is engaged in wrongdoing with closed eyes and it is not that he has is no feeling of it… he has it and to erase the guilt created by this feeling, they try to show that they are very religious people and continue to prove others as trivial, by making a lot of noise from personal life to social media.

What do you think are these religious people and if there is a God/Allah will he be happy with them? So by putting yourself in his place and thinking about it, maybe instead of being happy on their gimmicks, you will reel off their skin by hunter until they do not truly understand the difference between religion and Iniquity.

इस लेख को हिंदी में पढ़ने के लिये यहाँ क्लिक करें

#religion and science #islam #faith vs fact #faith and logic #athiesm

[finsterhund]

Plush Dog Scarf - Little Boy Gift

The lockdown here is in full swing. There’s lineups for all the essential stores still open, the post office is giving me special privileges because I’m considered an at-risk individual, and there’s a shortage of the medicine I need to breathe. So it’s been pretty stressful.

Paper Beast has been like, the only thing (alongside Heart of Darkness of course) that’s been keeping my mind active in a constructive way. But due to the fact that I can’t play video games for ten hours a day due to my chronic pain and how long periods of wearing the headset are hard on my eyes, I can’t just entirely retreat into the world of origami critters and never leave until the crisis is over like I’d want to.

You’d think that since my normal daily life is already “stay in your room bored out of your mind, never go out, have nothing to do” that I’d be used to this. And while I’m prepared for this and have a better handle on my anxiety surrounding the pandemic, I am certainly not adequately prepared. It feels like there’s a looming disaster yet also an insurmountable tiredness. It’s also sobering to find out that there are provincial-wide shortages of ventalin and I had to go to a different pharmacy just to get only the rescue inhaler for the time being. That has made me realize just how serious things are getting. It’s weird seeing the general populous as concerned about catching things as me. I’m laughing a lot at these events, but it’s not a humorous laugh. It’s an anxious venting fear laugh.

The point I’m trying to get at is that the lockdown is driving me to the depraved edges of my mind, which generally means writing about the Heart of Darkness deaths (which I have trouble writing in general right now) drawing stupid jokes (which my tablet is currently misplaced due to rearranging my entire room to play Paper Beast) and my weird fixations I get onto hobbies that orbit me like some tiny lopsided moon that show up for months at a time, disappear again, then smack me in the face within the next ten to twelve months.

I designed a fictional version of myself, currently named Cayden (who I have shown already) that I lowkey am thinking to have be a member of Andy’s class or something, who gets to run around having adventures with Spot, wear all the 90s clothes that I can find in vintage children’s catalogs, and get killed by the Master of Darkness. Fun stuff.

At some point I’ve also been retreating into the whole beanie babies thing again, and discovered to my excitement the subject of this post.

Someone made a scarf out of Spot.

And I’ve been memeing it up on twitter because the listing looked like this:

As can already be garnered from the listing, the insistence that this scarf is in fact for a little boy meant that I immediately started joking that it was “the perfect gift for me” and that I needed it because I was “the greatest little boy in all of Canada” both statements of which are true.

I also decided that because in Cayden’s time turning a beanie baby that was valued anywhere between $50 and $200 (yes) USD into a scarf would be such a superfluous flex and spit in the face of collectors that I just had to have him wear it.

And after much descent into madness and deciding that my Andy cosplay bandanna didn’t deserve to be my makeshift facemask as the person who made it for me disappeared off the planet so getting it replaced would be a long and arduous task I decided after seeing so many people wearing scarves in the Costco to finally get the famous Plush Dog Scarf - Little Boy Gift and fulfill the madness-induced prophecy.

This is mine now. When will it arrive? No idea.

I have also been trying to get my friends to buy scarves like these (there are MORE) but it’s a luxury item people can’t afford. I get that. I mostly got it because of the joke and because my old scarf is falling apart (the red one in case you remember it) and because the lockdown has been slowly driving me insane.

Spot’s squeaky steak (or rather one just like it I found on the internet) arrived yesterday but was filled with such an awful permeating aura of ancient mold that I had to clean it or immediately die so I spent much of today cleaning it out with vinegar. I think it works. Now it just hurts my breath because of the smell of vinegar. I held a flashlight to it and there’s no mold inside. Any more tips to kill mold inside a vintage dog toy would be appreciated.

Spot’s squeak steak is also a lot smaller than I expected it to be. Which i shouldn’t be surprised by because if my hands hadn’t grown since I was a toddler there would most certainly be problems. But it is weird. My hands are so big now. Strong.

I also have finally photoshopped my magnificent creation known as Negaspot into digital existence. Negaspot is possible, but requires cutting off Spot’s head and putting it onto the body of another beanie baby which is a bit too insane and deranged for me at this point in time, I would hope that I do not stoop to this level of depravity.

One would morn the loss of a perfectly good Spot if Negaspot were to be brought into existence and made flesh. A headless Spot would be forced to suffer the crimes of an unfeeling god. I don’t think I could live with these consequences after the virus has passed.

Perhaps the headless body of this Spot could be attached to the end of another Spot, creating an eight-legged extra long DoubleSpot. Two crimes against beanie baby god for the price of one! The price of which would be literally under 5 dollars because beanie babies are worth nothing now except for Spot without a spot who mark my words I will get someday. If we are putting two Spots together perhaps we could give Negaspot the tail of the front of DoubleSpot, alleviating the problem of a wasted tail. These are normal things that perfectly healthy and well-adjusted children think about.

If I create Negaspot, send help.

On the topic of spots, I am still very sad I had to postpone the Spot party, as I have gotten her a ton of presents that are now sitting in my room waiting for the party. I did get her a chew rope for the time being as a “sorry we had to cancel your party” gift but it’s not the same man! I want to have that party!

A thought has crossed my mind that when I am in a better state of mind and can therefore judge better if this is a wise use of my time and resources, is that I should commission the creator of Plush Dog Scarf - Little Boy Gift to create a super long, like excessively long, unnecessarily long, Spot Scarf. That was I can give Spot the Plush Dog Scarf - Little Boy Gift and I can have one that is more decidedly an abomination and an affront against the laws of nature.

Since I figure I am providing you all with a lot of unnecessary information, I feel the need to let everybody know that in Paper Beast there is a big plant-serpent looking creature that eats everything that crosses its path called, and I quote, Voraxo.

Just a nice little tidbit of information. Make of it what you will.

#text post #useless information #beanie babies #spot the dog #negaspot #cayden #long post #update

[ibelieveinahappilyeverafter]

Writing Commission - A Gift of Sunshine - Chapter 1

My oh my it has been a while, everyone! You have my deepest apologies for the lack of content you've seen from me lately, but I've been busy with finals, graduation, and so much else! Finally, though, things are settling down and it's time to get right back to it!

This is my latest story that was written through my commission work and I had absolutely no doubt that you all would love to see it! It's already fully complete and I'll be uploading a chapter a day until it's all finished! It's quite a bit of an AU, but I'm sure you all will enjoy!

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Summary: It is the worst day of fifteen-year-old Aizawa Shouta’s life when he trudges home after a failed entrance test to U.A. – the school made for heroes. His worst day abruptly turns strange, however, when he gets home to find a beautiful sword on his bed with a scroll attached that is addressed from his grandfather.

It turns out that his entire family was descended from a samurai (unsurprising considering he lived in Japan) and the sword was meant to help him become a hero. Shouta hadn’t been expecting the sword to talk, however, and he especially hadn’t expected the sword to have a voice as warm as sunshine itself. 

It’s a long journey to become a hero like he wants, but Shouta has a feeling that he and Hizashi are going to do just fine.

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Fandom: Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia    

Relationship: Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic/Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead

Characters: Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic, Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead

Rating: Teen Audiences

Word Count (Total): 35,935  

Transaction Amount: $250 (USD)

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                                                Chapter One 

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When imagining the different ways in which his dreams could have been crushed and ground down into a fine dust that would never again be thought of, Aizawa Shouta had not bothered to contemplate that his world would end due to robots, yet U.A. had, very firmly, set him straight. 

Shouta mused to himself, as he trudged into his empty home and kicked his shoes off, that he had been prepared for how difficult the written exam would be. U.A. was one of the top hero schools in the country for a reason, after all, and it was logical to assume their entrance exams would be just as rigorous.  

He had also been prepared for the scorn that he would face once his quirk was revealed. An Erasure quirk was rare enough in their world of quirks, but one that could specifically ‘steal’ someone’s quirk when merely looking at them? Shouta had been accused of being a villain-in-the-making more than once, something he took a few bitter seconds to fester over as he trudged to his room, bag thrown somewhere into a corner to rot. 

Shouta truly thought that had been prepared for a lot, including a rigorous physical exam that would test the potential students to their limits, but robots? Erasure could be a powerful quirk if used correctly, but it didn’t do shit against something like robots. There had been a chance, at least, if he had been matched against other students. Then, at least, he could have evened the playing field and won just through taking his opponent off guard. 

There weren’t any ways to take a robot off guard, as Shouta’s bruised, battered, and exhausted body could fully attest to. It was fine, though. It was fine, because his written exam score would, if nothing else, ensure him a place in U.A.’s general studies program. He would still be getting into U.A. even if it wasn’t as a hero. 

Getting into their General Studies department was an achievement all on its own, Shouta knew, but that seemed to do little to stop the frustrated tears that were burning his already dry and aching eyes, forcing him to painfully scrub them away as he stumbled into his room and prepared himself to collapse on his bed and sleep his grief and anger away. 

At least, Shouta had been about to collapse and sleep his grief and anger away until he noticed the sword that had already taken his place with a scroll attached to the hilt. 

The sword was nice enough, Shouta supposed, with a golden sheath that reminded him of days in the sun and a cord that tied the hilt and sheath together that was as red as Shouta’s own eyes when he used his quirk. The hilt, honestly, was both the oddest and nicest part, being made from what looked like jade that was carved with neatly etched swirls that seemed to follow an unnoticeable pattern. 

It was a nice enough sword that Shouta was immediately backing out of his room and looking around the hallways suspiciously, straining his hearing to see if either his parents were about to ‘surprise’ him or if some thief had broken in and put the sword there as an unspoken threat to not interfere with his business. 

When nothing happened except Shouta’s pain making itself known the longer he stood still, he relaxed and stepped into his room, attention turning to the scroll that looked like a real scroll as opposed to something that could be bought in one of the train station novelty shops.

A quick inspection revealed that there was nothing that made it seem as if it were a trap, Shouta carefully wiggling it free from where it was under the sword before he was unrolling it just as carefully, scanning the words of the ‘letter’ before his breath came out of him in a rush at seeing his grandfather’s name elegantly scripted at the bottom. 

“There are phones for a reason, Grandfather,” Shouta muttered to himself, taking the scroll to his desk and finally sitting down, taking a few moments to let his body rest before he was looking at the scroll properly. His grandfather was an eccentric man, but he had never been the type to write his letters as scrolls all while leaving swords on Shouta’s bed. Settling into his seat, Shouta let his eyes trail back to the top, heart sinking as he read the first few lines.

My dearest grandson,

If I’ve timed the arrival of this properly, then you’ve just arrived home from the entrance exam to the hero school you have your heart set on. You have also failed the physical portion of the test, as my quirk informed me that you would.

Shouta’s grandfather had a quirk that was deemed useless by hero standards, but incredible by the family standards. Bloodlines was a quirk that allowed his grandfather to see future moments that would happen to him or anyone within his bloodline - one of the reasons the Aizawa family was as successful as it was today, Shouta mused. Still, for his grandfather to have seen his failure and not told him… He wasn’t expecting it to hurt that much. 

He was half-tempted to put the letter aside, certain that it would be full of platitudes and promises of how his life would be successful even if his dreams of being a hero never worked out. Shouta was tempted, but he was also curious to know why his grandfather wrote to him on a scroll of all things; a scroll that had been attached to a sword.

I don’t need the use of my quirk, however, to know that you no doubt spent minutes debating just now whether you should continue reading this letter or not and suffer through my pointless reassurances, but let me reassure you just once that this letter is not to tell you that you’re better off not being a hero. It’s rather the opposite, in fact. It rather makes sense that of all of our descendants today, it would be you, the little boy who couldn’t stand illogical choices and harmful behavior, to be the one to decide that the world should be more fair than it is cruel. 

The sword on your bed, Shouta? It is a gift to you just as it once was to me. In my great-grandfather’s words, and in his grandfather’s words, and so on back to the beginning, it is “a gift of sunshine” that will light your way. In my own words, however, it is a passing of wills, a hope for the future, and a promise. 

A gift of sunshine? Shouta frowned as the words seemed to batter at something in his chest, aching fiercely as glanced to the bed where the sword still laid. It glinted in the soft afternoon sunlight and looked less like a dangerous weapon and more like something Shouta almost wanted to call soft.

This is a gift to you because I know that you will not lose your dream here, something that again I have no need of my quirk to tell me. You are too stubborn a fool to accept your loss as anything more or less than a setback, and so this gift will inspire you to not give up on your beautiful dream. 

It is also a passing of wills, however, in the way that our family was not always successful with numbers, as in your father’s case. Once, long, long ago, before quirks were ever even dreamed of, our family descended from a samurai.

Shouta couldn’t help his startled snort of laughter that he was sure he would be scolded for if anyone had been in the room with him. His grandfather had always been an eccentric and serious man, but to write on a scroll so seriously that their family was descended from a samurai, well… There were very few families in Japan that didn’t claim such a thing. 

Looking back down to find his place, and seeing the words ‘stop laughing,’ Shouta felt mildly chastised and mostly annoyed. Even when his grandfather lived hours away in the countryside, he could still never get away with anything. 

Stop laughing, young man, I know what you’re thinking! I was rather amused myself when my great-grandfather told me all of this when I was around your age, but the stories are true - and so is our recordkeeping. Aizawa Adachi was born a farmer’s son before he went on to serve the lord of his land at the time, becoming a fearsome and undefeatable opponent. 

He lived and fought with this sword, this sword that he had won through a duel gone wrong and stood by his side afterwards, during the time of the Meiji Restoration and through the end of the Edo period - the end of Feudal Lords, samurai, and the wicked things that crept through the night, or so everyone believed. Wicked things are always good at blending in, as we know even today.

That part, at least, Shouta could believe. There was a reason that heroes had appeared at the start of the age of quirks, and that was because villains had appeared, too. Quirks were beautiful, amazing, and powerful things that defined a person as much as anything else, but they could also be dangerous; they could be deadly. 

That much was true, but Shouta still couldn’t figure out why his grandfather thought to put all of this in a scroll and send it along with a sword, especially when they called every few weeks and visited every few months. Hopefully his grandfather would get to the point soon, but Shouta was doubtful. If it was one thing his grandfather could do, it was talk. 

Adachi refused to leave his ways of protecting others in the past and traveled the land as one of the ronin, a wandering swordsman who always used his sword to help people and keep them safe during the turmoil that followed the Revolution. He used the same sword that now lays upon your bed.

Because that certainly wasn’t creepy, Shouta snorted to himself, glancing over to his bed to see the beautiful sword that certainly didn’t look as if it were hundreds of years old. 

In the old days the Aizawa family kept to Adachi’s oath, protecting Japan from threats both inside and out and keeping the people safe from what lurked in the dark. The times have changed, Shouta, but our wills have not, as proven with you and your desire to protect. You want to be a hero? The names change, but the heart never does.

Quirks may have come into this world, dear boy, but that doesn’t mean it’s not the same world that it’s always been. I know you failed your exam, but I also know that this will be nothing more than a setback to make you work even more fiercely than before.

This sword is a hope for the future. I have seen what it will be through the times surrounding you, Shouta, and I wish I could say that you will be safe, but we both know that the path you have chosen will never be safe again. 

You will bleed from the pain that is required for you to follow this path. You will break from the pressure of your dream that is placed upon your shoulders. You will fall apart piece by piece one day and, for a very long time after, you will feel as if you were not put back together right. I have seen all of this, Shouta, and you will know pain and suffering by becoming a hero.

The rest of the words faded away, Shouta jumping at realizing his hands had been shaking enough for the scroll to slip out of them and fall to his desk in a flutter of movement. As much as he wanted to pick the scroll up and keep reading the last few paragraphs, he couldn’t make his heart stop pounding as if it were ready to burst. 

It wasn’t new information for Shouta. Everyone knew how serious it was to be a hero in these days, and everyone knew that it wasn’t an easy life. It was possible for most heroes to die while they were active, and pro heroes who lived to see retirement were rare and few. It wasn’t new information, but Shouta had never seen it stated so bluntly in something addressed to him. 

To know that his grandfather had seen his future and saw the pain he would go through if he stayed on his path to become a hero, it… It was terrifying. He was fifteen and an entire possible future for him had been seen and recorded. That was as terrifying as something could get, and yet- Well. And yet. 

And yet Shouta still wanted to help people with his power. And yet he still wanted to keep people safe the way there were heroes that made him feel safe. And yet, even with his future known, he didn’t want to change his path for anything because his grandfather’s visions meant he did it - they meant he had become a hero. And yet, after the realization that his future would be full of pain, Shouta picked the scroll back up and kept reading. 

And yet you will be the most magnificent hero, my Shouta.

You’re so intent on becoming a hero that even if I told you in detail what I saw, you would not waver. So, since you’re so intent on becoming a hero, on becoming a warrior that will protect Japan and all her people, I knew it was time for this sword to be passed onto you. 

This sword’s name is Hizashi and once you unravel the red cord that binds sword to sheath, you will be bound by our family’s oath to, one way or another, keep these people safe. 

This sword is a gift. It is a passing of wills. It is a hope for the future. It is a promise.

So, if you truly want to be a hero, pick up this sword. 

The letter ended there, his grandfather’s signature following in the space left behind with no further explanations. 

Setting the scroll down carefully on his desk, Shouta pushed himself to his feet with a wince of pain before walking over to his bed, arms crossed as he stared down at the beautiful sword that sat there, looking more decorative than something that had actually been used in battle and had no doubt killed people. 

Uncrossing his arms and leaning over, Shouta trailed his fingers across the sheath, feeling something that he could almost call familiarity before it faded away. “So, your name is Hizashi, huh?” Shouta’s eyes traced the bright golden colors of the sheath, a slip of sunlight falling into his room through the window and hitting a portion of the sheath just so to make it look like it had become sunlight itself. “The perception of sunlight… I suppose it fits for you, doesn’t it?” It was a good name for this sword. 

“Apparently my grandfather thinks I actually know how to fight with swords and that, when I become a hero, I’ll use you. He’s never been wrong before, but, between you and me, he’s going mad in his old age.” Taking a seat on the edge of his bed, and still trailing his fingers over the sheath, Shouta sighed softly to himself as he realized that he was talking to a sword, instead of being sane and merely talking at a sword. 

Glancing back down to the unmoving sword, Shouta shifted and made himself comfortable. “I suppose if you’re just going to sit there, then you can listen.” Gathering his thoughts and making sure to take a moment to be certain that no one was home that could overhear him, Shouta tapped his finger against the sheath of the sword as if trying to get the attention of someone. 

“I failed my school entrance exam today, the one that would teach me how to be a pro hero, because the tests weren’t fair. They were geared towards physical quirks, and mine, Erasure, can only erase quirks. It can’t help me against robots.” Shouta was at too big a disadvantage physically when it was just him on his own. He knew a bit about fighting, but fighting robots with nothing except his hands? It wasn’t logical. His grandfather seemed to think the same. 

“I suppose that could be one reason that you were given to me,” Shouta mumbled softly, feeling his other hand clench hard enough to have his nails digging into his palms. “I don’t have the type of quirk other heroes have. All I can do is level a playing field that I can’t even touch.” It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair that he wanted to do nothing except help, and he was instead given a quirk that was seen as a villain’s quirk. 

Leaning forward, Shouta carefully pulled the sword into his lap, eyeing the red cord that kept the sword bound inside its sheath. There was a ‘spell tag’ there for decoration that was dramatic even by his grandfather’s standards. Still, Shouta couldn’t help but to feel something like anticipation. 

“Grandfather said you were a promise,” Shouta said softly, feeling something in the air that made him choose his words carefully. “I need to be stronger than I am now. I need to be strong enough that I can protect others without losing myself.” 

Shouta’s nails dug under the spell tag, removing it and shivering as he felt something like static burst across his fingertips. For the first time since he realized he had failed his entrance exam, Shouta felt something like hope. “I’m not giving up. I won’t.”

With those words clear in his head, Shouta tugged at the red cord until it came undone, falling limp around his hands and wrists as Shouta looked down at the unbound sword, declaration leaving him before he could think it through or take it back. A strong, clear, “I’m going to be a hero.”

There was a burst of something, Shouta feeling as if the air had been sucked out of his lungs the same time pure energy slammed into him, hands tight around the sheath of the sword that almost looked as if it were glowing. 

‘A hero, huh?’ A crystal clear voice spoke brightly from inside him, Shouta staring at the sword and feeling as if it were smiling, of all things. ‘That sounds like it could be fun!’

#boku no hero academia #bnha #mha #my hero academia #erasermic #my writing #original #a gift of sunshine

[clairekatswritingcorner]

Love Letters

Word Count: 1,289

Summary: Rhys writes D a special letter to confess all the things he loves about her that are often hard to verbalize. D is naturally quite taken aback by the gesture, not just due to the letter’s contents, but also by the fact that Rhys would bother to do something so nice for her in the first place.

For @robotarmjokes!

If you enjoyed reading this piece, please consider leaving a tip or commissioning me!

*****

He fiddled with the envelope in his hands, unable to suppress the anxious fidgeting tingling in his nerves. Widely known as the man that had spearheaded Hyperion’s downfall and raised Atlas from the ashes in its place, there should have been little that could faze him. But appearances seldom reflect the whole truth, and just like anyone else, he wasn’t immune to everything. Quite the opposite, actually, since he figured he was put off by things more often than most, even his wife. She frequently lamented and berated herself for her shortcomings, the little things that upset or unsettled her that she assumed were mainly inconsequential in the eyes of others. Rhys knew that wasn’t the case as a result of his own experiences, and he wished he could do more to help her understand the validity of her position.

But that persuasive process was going to have to wait; today, she happened to lie at the root of his problems. Not due to anything she’d done or said, since the predicament he found himself in was a rather unfortunately personal and self-inflicted one. Standing outside the door to her workshop, the place where she organized and conducted the majority of her top-secret work and contracts, his gaze flitted restlessly between the knob and the paper that crinkled between his shaking fingers. Objectively, it wasn’t a big deal, and he silently scolded himself as seconds stretched into minutes, knowing deep down that he should have been more than capable of easily accomplishing this task. Perhaps it was just the nature of the act, the risk that came with confronting her so directly, but he’d engaged in other awkward and downright foolish actions in the past and never suffered anything close to the panic and paranoia he was now.

It wasn’t like this was his first time giving her a gift. Well, he supposed it was the first time he’d given her something like this, but he couldn’t pinpoint what it was about this specific kind of gift that made him feel like he was sinking in a tsunami of self-doubt. It was almost as if he’d regressed back into a helpless pining schoolboy, nervous yet resolute in his mission to make a good impression…clinging to the hope that his crush would give him even a sliver of a chance to prove himself. But this was his spouse he was talking about! The person he’d married, his better half who’d made everything from the proposal to the ceremony the best moments of his life. Their relationship hadn’t exactly been smooth sailing from the start, but few worthwhile relationships are. With the combination of a spark and a lingering will of dedication, almost anyone can withstand even the harshest storms together…at least that’s what Rhys had learned from his time with his darling D.

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, raising a hand to knock and hesitating just a second more. Was he worried she was going to laugh at him, or reject him? Was he scared of this act he’d poured his heart and soul into falling flat, and the crippling disappointment that would surely follow? If D could manage to push through her insecurities to do better for him, the least he could do was give her the same courtesy. Rather than plunging headfirst into the unknown, though, he opted to employ a more cautious method, slipping the unassuming looking note under the door. He retreated after knocking a few times, her irritated demand to know who’d come to interrupt her following him down the hall. He figured he’d use the extra time he’d gained to properly prepare to face her reaction, regardless of how wonderful or terrible it turned out to be.

As the hours ticked by, he found himself starting to regret his decision to flee. The sound of creaking hinges and approaching footsteps snapped him back to reality, and the moment he laid eyes on her his breath was taken away. She didn’t necessarily look much different than usual…but he could tell she’d been both flustered and crying, taken aback by the honest and heartfelt nature of his modest offering. A letter detailing some of the things he loved about her, how she’d improved his life since they’d met, how much happier he was now that she was in his life. Without her, he never would have been able to achieve the happiness he had now…and his life would never be the same because of it. He hoped he’d managed to make her feel at least a fraction of the same way.

“What’s the meaning of this?” she demanded, although he could tell she wasn’t asking in a derogatory or disgruntled way.

“I just wanted to give you a little something to show I care,” he explained, stepping across the room to close the gap between them. “I mean, I know it’s not much, but…”

“Why did you make me something like this?”

He was more interested to know how she felt about receiving it, but he supposed he could humor her questions a little longer. “Well, you’ve said before that gifts make you uncomfortable. Maybe you didn’t use that phrasing exactly, but I know you’ve mentioned that getting something like a letter, a more sentimental and subdued expression of thanks or admiration, is easier for you to accept. I’ve had a lot on my mind about us, about you, especially with our anniversary coming up. So, I decided to put some of those feelings on paper…and give that paper to you, hoping that maybe it would, I don’t know, help brighten your day or something.”

She had to remind herself not to clench her fist and subsequently crumple the precious pages in her hands. Multiple paragraphs of passionate prose that clearly reflected his struggle to translate the cornucopia of feelings that fueled his affection into something coherent. Even if some parts of it were confusing or failed to make sense, the one thing that had made it through crystal clear was his ardent and abundant love for her. She’d felt similar sentiments flood her chest as she’d read this ode to his emotions, taking in his adoration and gratitude for their relationship and everything about her in general. She knew sometimes the hardest thing to do was simply putting thoughts into words, and this must have been one of the most taxing attempts he’d ever made. She couldn’t think of a more complicated topic to parse.

“This was very thoughtful of you…and very kind,” she finally confessed, setting the papers down on the nearest surface. “It’s the first time anyone’s ever done something like this for me. The first time someone’s actually bothered to remember me saying something like that, too…something so small I can’t believe you bothered paying attention.”

“Nothing’s too small to pay attention to when it comes to you,” Rhys insisted, coaxing her a bit closer before tenderly kissing her neon fringe of hair. “You’re the most important thing in the whole universe to me. I know I’ve said it before, and I’ll probably say it again, many more times…but it’s just something I really don’t want you to forget.”

“Sometimes I just don’t know how you can mean it—”

Cutting her off with an unexpected, spine tingling smooch, he settled his arms around her waist, joining his hands above the small of her back. “You’ll just have to take my word for it.”

She flushed and struggled to fish out enough words for a suitable reply. “From a silver-tongued snake like you? That’s asking a lot.”

He chuckled, amused by her embarrassed, overly defensive response. “Don’t worry, I promise I won’t ask for much more than that.”

#self insert #selfinsert #self ship #selfship #oc x canon #self insert fic #self insert fanfiction #selfship fic #selfship fanfiction #self insert commissions #selfship commissions #my writing #claire writes #one shot #robotarmjokes #commission

[yukiwrites]

Corrin, Meeting with Oneself

Thank you so much for the support and the patience, @xpegasusuniverse ! I cried a bit writing this açlsdkmasd I hope you like it!

Summary: After meeting her sister in Askr, Felicia went to tell her Lord Corrin about the miracle. Flora, alive! And serving a female ‘Lord’ Corrin, as well! What wonder! On her side, Flora told her Lady Corrin about what had happened and both Prince and Princess have the same idea: to meet with their other selves.

Commission info HERE and HERE!

_______________________________

Ever since being summoned to Askr, Corrin realized that that world had some very peculiar properties. It felt nothing like any DeepRealm she had visited back in Nohr, neither did it feel like an OutRealm... It had a different kind of atmosphere entirely.

The very air felt as though it was filled with magic, the miniscule, flickering dust moving on its own without the aid of any draft of wind.

Caught up in one such wonderings after an entire day of fighting for Askr, Corrin had returned to Krakenburg castle alongside her maid, Flora. The blue haired woman walked in silence, lost in thought, not at all fussing over Corrin as she usually did.

Noticing the strange kind of peace after returning home in silence, Corrin glanced at her maid: the expression she saw was a somber one. "Flora? What's wrong?"

Still deep in thought, the maid simply took one hand to her chin in thought. "I must return to Felicia and tell her I'll never leave again..." she said more to herself than to her master.

"Huh?" Corrin tilted her head to the side in confusion.

Gasping, Flora raised her head. "Oh! F-forgive me for spacing out like that, my Lady! D-did you need anything?"

The princess narrowed her eyes. "Only for you to tell me what's wrong. You're always so focused on your work I actually kind of missed your nagging!"

"N-nagging? Surely you jest, milady. I'm simply committed to-"

"Yes, yes," Corrin dismissed Flora's excuse. "Now, the answer? Or is it something private you'd rather share with your sister?"

Flora looked down for a beat, her pigtails dangling over her shoulders. "I... suppose milady has the right to now." She mumbled before raising her gaze to her master. "Today, I met another Felicia back in Askr. A Felicia from another world, completely different from this one, yet the same."

Corrin felt the depths of her core freeze, the secret wonderings prickling her chest with fear. "W-what're you talking about, Flora? A-another world?" She tried to dodge the possibility of her innermost guilt flourishing back into her mind. "I know Askr is a strange world and all, but surely-"

Flora's silence and unwavering gaze made Corrin slowly lose her words. "That Felicia came from a world... where I-" she choked, trying not to say the word. "Where I wasn't there with her anymore."

The princess had to clutch her chest in a vain attempt to keep her mended heart from breaking yet again. "D-did..." her voice died, and for a good minute, it stayed mute; her eyes burning. "Did I choose to stay in Hoshido in that world?"

Flora simply looked down, the lump in her throat making it difficult to speak. She nodded so softly, so briefly, the gesture might as well have been Corrin's imagination.

Another world.

One that she chose to stay with her birth family instead of her found one.

A world where the war ended, but another side remained victorious. Could she have lived with the choice? Could she have accepted herself? How did her other self coped with it?

"She also said-" Flora's whisper broke the silence so suddenly it made the princess flinch. "that she serves a 'Lord' Corrin in her world."

"A world where I'm born as a man... And yet history still set its course towards war and destruction." Corrin's lips trembled. "Is there no safe path? No right way to end the war? Is there even a way for it to not have any war at all?" She spat out the words faster and faster, the deeply locked-away guilt splurting through her lips, overflowing through her eyes. "Will I always be plagued by the deaths of my comrades- of- of my family?"

Panicking with her master's tears, Flora looked around as though trying to find help, her hands fussing around her lady. "M-milady, f-forgive me, I-"

Corrin looked down so as to dry her tears, raising one finger so Flora would shut up. "It's- it's okay, Flora. Thank you for telling me." She took a deep breath, still unwilling to raise her eyes who refused to stop crying. "I... I want to meet this other Corrin, if I can. Do you think you could arrange it for me tomorrow?"

Flora felt her heart grow cold, a cold she wasn't really used to. "M-milady, is that wise? What if the ancient nohrian Doppelganger legend is true-"

"Even if it is, it's a risk I'm willing to take. Could you please arrange it?" Her head still lowered, Corrin used her bangs to cover her eyes, sniffling.

Flora deflated, her body still tense. "O-of course, milady."

Corrin smiled weakly, looking at her maid from behind her hair. "Thank you, Flora."

When Felicia told Corrin about meeting her dead sister in Askr, the Prince truly considered calling for a healer -- it took a lot of explaining and stumbling around words for him to understand what his maid had reported him the day before.

The moment he set his foot in Askr for yet another day of fighting, he saw her with his own two eyes: Flora. 

She looked... so much more at peace with herself. The prince felt his legs grow weak, the living proof of his mistake (was it really a mistake? To choose his own blood related siblings? Oh, how could he ever know!) walking resolutely towards him.

"Oh, there she is, Lord Corrin! See, I told you! And now we can set up that meeting with her Lady Corrin like you wanted!" She pulled her master toward her sister, excitedly. Corrin froze on his steps, his horrified yet desperate expression making Flora herself stop on her tracks.

"So you're Lord Corrin... You two are indeed the same people; even your aura is the same." The maid bowed deeply, "please do not look at me so, my Lord... I'm sure I made the choice I deemed necessary in your world."

"See?! Doesn't she just talk the same?!" Felicia's mind ignored the words for her own sake, simply happy to have her sister back.

Not able to do that, Corrin's eyes glued themselves to the ground, his entire body growing numb. "... She does." He croaked, afraid he would break down there and then.

"My Lady awaits at the gazebo just ahead. I... would escort you, but perhaps you would preffer to be on your own." Flora tiptoed away from the duo, signaling with her chin for Felicia to come to her and leave her lord alone. The pink-haired maid looked from her master to her sister, promply going to where Flora was. "If... you'd excuse us, then."

His heart beat so fast his vision started blurring.

Flora was alive.

In that other world, Flora hadn't killed herself due to his own mistakes.

Who else lived? Was there anyone else who died? Could he have prevented-?

His feet dragged themselves behind him as he tried to go to the garden Floran mentioned, his mind a complete and utter mess.

Another self? A woman? Could she have prevented the war BETTER than he did? She chose to stay with the family who had always been there for him since childhood, whereas he just- he watched them all die!

His bare feet touched the humid grass, making him lift his gaze to the familiar silver hair being blown by the wind. Their equally red eyes met at the same time, and they knew instinctively-

They knew that they both shared the same level of grief, in differing kinds.

They were the same.

They chose a side and regretted it.

Oh, how they regretted it!

Prince and Princess both felt their eyes burning with tears, the woman running up from her seat towards her male self, hugging him with everything she had.

For a very brief moment, during the previous night, she thought how awkward it would be to meet another version of herself. Would she stutter? Would he even understand her, taking into account the different choices they took? Would he spurn her for choosing to stay where she felt the safest instead of doing what her mind yelled at her to be the right thing?

But that had been a foolish thought.

Corrin was her. She was him. They shared the same ideals, the same mind, the same regrets.

Truly looking at oneself and seeing all of the regrets, all of the fears, all of the second-guessings... It was heart-breaking and heartwarming at the same time.

Comforting, to find someone so alike to oneself -- no, to find the very same person they were in their core -- and to be simply understood.

They held each other in a tight embrace, their loud yet choked sobs being muffled by one another's shoulders.

"I'm so sorry!" She said, digging her nails into his back.

"F-forgive me- I... made so many people suffer." He apologized back, crushing her ribs in his hug. "I-"

"I-"

"Why haven't we met before this all happened?!" She hiccuped, "so many deaths could have been avoided- I- I already feel so much stronger with you here..."

"Oh," the prince wavered, his legs weakening. "We could've joined forces- they... they wouldn't have had to die!"

Would it be possible to have another path? To meet another self, to guide them through their struggles? To reset their own history and make it alright again?

Who would prevail? Would they lose their sense of self and be reborn as one another? Would one of them cease to exist? 

... Couldn't them simply start over? Couldn't they go through it all together? The TRUE blood siblings they never had -- hand in hand, through it all?

Could they finally stand by their own words of 'having no regrets' and proudly state them as truth?

"I say I have no regrets, but oh, what lie!" They didn't know who said that, both of them feeling the same grief, the same guilt crushing them both from the inside.

"Every night... Every night I'm plagued by guilt," the prince sobbed, digging his face into the soft silver hair, "and... no matter how much my family grows..." Kana, oh, my little Kana! he thought woefully, "I- I still l-lay awake-- regretting the deaths of my family."

Corrin nodded in understanding, drenching the prince's shirt with her tears. "The people who loved me from infancy-- they all died due to my own s-selfish choice... Can I truly say I stand by it and that I would do it all over again? Can I- Can I call myself happy even after the birth of my children... having bloodied my hands so?"

“P-please teach me… Teach me how to live with this guilt. Sometimes I-” The Prince felt the mends in his heart crumble for the nth time.

“M-me too; you don’t need to say it. D-don’t voice it. Don’t let anyone know.” She held him with everything she had. “I- can’t teach you. I… I need to know that, as well.”

“...” He dug his face even more into her shoulder. “We can-” he started.

“- learn together,” she finished.

Unwilling to break contact, Prince and Princess stayed there, giving each other support, for as long as they would need.

They would never be able to live down with their choices -- with their regrets.

But they had to. They had to appear strong, to be the charismatic leader everyone wanted them to.

Only there -- only in Askr they would be able to truly be themselves: with each other. With their own selves. They would always regret, but at least…

At least, from then on it would be less difficult to live with that guilt.

#feh #fire emblem fates #flora #felicia #corrin #my writings #yuki's commissions

[sellaclassiccarca]

Sale My Classic Car Fast? Try This Out And Have A Great Peace

Do you own a classic car and now you want to sell the same? No matter why you are selling your car, whether you are relocating to another country, need urgent cash, problem with the space or looking to buy a new car, you just plan to move further with the professionals for quick help. Today, we are very busy in our work and earning money, hence if you don’t want to suffer a lot due to selling your car or if you don’t want to put more efforts and time, you just carry forward with the professionals. Yes, it is highly important to connect with the best call selling website online will help you in meeting your requirements and at the same time will give you great suggestions on how you can sell your car fast. You better know professionals are the best in selling your car fast, however, you need to find one of the reliable service provider via internet. Yes, just in few clicks you can easily find a reliable vendor near you, but don’t forget to analyze all in order to pick the best one. Always go with those service providers who are very much interested in buying your car directly. Yes, no agent, no commission and nothing. Today, every service provider has a great website via which you can easily expect to get overall information on what they are doing, their experience, what kind of cars they accept, the prices and everything else. Looking to sale my classic car? Well, it will surely be done with the help of the pros as they are very much interested to help you with you any kind, make and model of car. No matter where you live, if you are eager to sell your car quickly, efficiently and in an honest manner, you will surely need to search out someone the best. Why experts? Well, they are the one ensure to offer the best consultation and deal to the sellers and on the same time one will find their process is very simple. Yes, everything will be done just in few clicks, where all you need to do is fill out an online form and one of the sales agents will get in contact with you to know the further processing. They may directly buy your car and sale later on to another party or they may help you to find the best buyer can help you with the money you are looking for. Are you looking for classic car buyers near me? You must consider the reference site which is professionals and always structure the best deals so that most of the work is completed in a better manner and leading to a worry-free experience for the customers. Also, they will help you with the best deal you always looking for, hence try out the suggested source and have a great peace.

#Sale My Classic Car

[vlgeo439019-blog]

There’s no internet?! (Insert screaming 12-year old)

Our world revolves around the internet. Banking, politics, social movements, education, reading, access to medical care, booking appointments, or purchasing products online - you name it, the internet is 100% involved. As people who always have access to the inter-web, we often forget that there are remote areas in the world that are internet “immune”, so to speak. While we sit down, drinking a cup of coffee, and work on a assignment online on campus or in a cafe, we don’t really think about the people out there that are living their day-to-day lives without the internet. 

Of course this isn’t a bad thing, but when the world is so dependent on using the internet, it makes life significantly harder for those individuals who live without it. 

For the purposes of my blog this week, I’m going to write about low broadband internet accessibility in rural areas. I've spent a lot of time in the past few weeks focusing on agriculture and farming - it's time for a refreshing change!

Low internet accessibility in isolated areas isn't a new phenomena. Since the early 2000′s internet use has been growing - in 2009 usage increased by over 700% and further increased by 400% in 2013. By 2023 it is predicted that internet usage will skyrocket. The number of users is predicted to reach 33 million users, nearly 99 percent of the Canadian population. 

Unfortunately, I have difficulty believing in the authenticity of this statement, especially considering the fact that only 85% of Canadian citizens are adequately serviced with a reliable internet connection. This may seem like a considerable number of people, but when you look at a map of Canada the stark reality is that there is a technological divide between the north and south, even in Ontario!

Partial map of northern & southern Ontario.

The green areas on the map represent those regions with an adequate level of internet connection, more specifically fixed wireless access. The yellow colour represents those areas that have access to cellular data or cell service. As I’m sure you all can see, this represents a majority of Canada’s urban population in southern Ontario. 

Those areas without colour have no cellular service at all. 

Partial map of northern & southern Ontario.

The red dots represent those areas that are largely under-serviced, communities with anywhere between 1000 to 7000 people. Although generally more common in northern Ontario, there are some locations in the south that are suffering due to a lack of service as well. 

Why is this a problem? 

A farmer in the Ottawa Valley explains, “I live ten minutes from the town of Renfrew and I’m in a blackout zone with no hopes of getting high speed internet. I pay nearly $200 dollars a month for only 100 gigabytes of data - enough data for only 20 hours of internet. Watching videos is impossible.”

This may not seem like a problem, but with children who rely on the internet for school projects and assignments, it really puts a damper on things. The additional costs for poor internet are pretty unbelievable as well. 

A man from Elgin County can’t even pay his bills reliably. Don Miller, a farmer and business owner, says that he was put out of service for ten days without warning, just narrowly regaining his connection in time to pay off $8000 dollars in pesticides and fertilizers. He’s unable to use internet in the evenings; too many people use it at once. Miller is unable to stay up to date on cattle and grain prices as well. 

In northern, remote communities this is even worse. There are massive issues of affordability and accessibility. In Thessalon First Nation for instance, a reserve outside of Sault. Ste. Marie, satellite internet service is provided by Xplornet. Unfortunately this system has been criticized for being inconsistent, expensive, and lags in times of high traffic. Without proper monitoring, bills can quickly add up and cost hundreds of dollars each month. 

Public wifi hotspots are a suggested solution to this problem, but for many communities this is inadequate as well. Some towns and villages lack public spaces or have inconsistent hours operation, forcing people to tailor their lives around accessibility. People are forced to travel long distances just to receive important information regarding health care, education, and employment. This costs money, time, and a considerable effort, which translates into a geographical advantage. Individuals in urban areas do not have to deal with this at all, creating the digital divide I mentioned above. 

In terms of economic activity, small communities in isolated regions are also at a disadvantage as well. There is little opportunity for digital industries or businesses to be established in these areas as low access to high speed internet could easily destroy a young or brand new entrepreneur. People are not willing to risk the possible loss. 

Even access to digital health care is a problem with poor internet. For those individuals who rely on digital forms of medical care, it’s a challenge to receive help if it is desperately needed. 

Recently there have been conversations surrounding possible solutions to this problem, the Canadian government being a major actor in the discussions of such solutions. In 2016, the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) deemed basic internet service as a human right and set aside over $750 million for infrastructure investment to provide services where market forces have fail, primarily rural and northern communities as we have discussed.

Unfortunately the plans released do very little to improve the lack of accessibility in these areas. Two years ago the CRTC proposed that with improved infrastructure internet speeds would reach 50 megabits per second. Today, the Commission has gone back on its word; speed targets will be cut in half, reaching 25 megabits per second. This means that as each household in these areas adds additional internet-connected devices to their bill, there will be an increased number of connectivity issues. This is amplified in Indigenous communities where access to high-bandwidth connections is expensive and where multiple families share a single dwelling.  

Solving internet accessibility in Canada is going to be a challenge, that’s for sure. It’s difficult to say whether this is going to be possible in the first place. Many communities, even those in close proximity to Guelph have poor internet. One of my housemates currently relies on a very poor satellite connection at her family home due to the topography in her area. Her home is surrounded by drumlins, large glacial remnants, that act as giant barriers to a reliable internet signal. 

I currently live outside of Midland and experience very poor internet. If you guys look at either of the maps I’ve linked above, there’s a small peninsula that’s right across from the Bruce Peninsula to the east. In that area there’s a little spot surrounded by red dots. That’s approximately where I currently live and the internet is horrible. There are times when my youngest sister can’t complete assignments for her school because of it. 

Despite all of this, it seems to me that Indigenous communities seem to suffer the most when it comes to issues of rurality. They continue to be forcefully isolated, especially by the Canadian government and big-box internet companies due to poor bandwidth. There is little room for change, growth, and independence in these communities when the lack of internet is forcefully caging people to a number of social, economic, and political issues, continuing a cycle of dependency created as a result of colonization. 

What do you guys think? Is internet a basic human right in our time and day? Is there an adequate solution to addressing a lack of internet accessibility in a timely manner?

- Vanessa 

[spineofdeathwing]

Response

The sincere level of cherry picking in this post is absolutely laughable and abhorring. I’ll start from the top to bottom of ‘evidence’.

The first discussion and issue of Hu'lon was that I saw a pattern in something that I had seen in a lot of my members past; it escalated due to Hu'lon refusing to communicate, and through the grapevine I just heard that they wanted to ‘not put it in the Accord’. I was concerned, and I reached out - the first time, I was met with stalwart refusal to communicate, so I backed off due to knowing that they had a legitimate social issue. I approached later on, and as you can see, the discussion was very forward and after clearing up my concerns with them, I backed off and that should have been the end of it. For the officers reaching out to people - I apologize if I prefer to discuss things over solving everything with a block button and refusal to speak.

Moving onto the part about me being tired of this. I had my current best friend leave the guild in the middle of the night, after seemingly everything was good (again, due to a lack of communication, I was not made aware that the other person was uncomfortable.) I suffer from BPD - i.e. Borderline Personality Disorder, which, if any of you have associated or learned of it, is the behaviour of absolute fear, anxiety and melting down when you’re met with someone leaving you. Tiao Lin was one of my best friends, and I still consider them to be, and I was in absolute tears when I made these messages. There is no guilt-tripping, there is legitimate depression and anxiety happening when these messages are happening. Conveniently, they left out the part where I explained such.

Moving onto the art 'requests’. I asked every single one of my artists in the guild - which, my guild has quite a number and I sincerely admire each and every one of them - if they’d like to collaborate in an effort to recruit people. This was clearly outlined in the picture: HERE at the top, almost cut off and further cherry picked.

Moving onto Tiao Lin once more, I reached out to a few of the stable people that I know she would make good friends with so that she would feel more at home in the guild. She suffers from anxiety and I genuinely wished her the best. I messaged three people to just reach out for her - if she felt anxious because of something, then she should always have a way to help and heal with her guild. I do not believe this was something that is wrong.

People were hurt by her departure. She blocked and removed everyone without a word.

One hurt person, that didn’t wish to include them in our recruitment post anymore. Note that I was still actively attempting to defend her.

Another hurt person. Both close friends of hers.

As you can see, I talked and discussed with all of them. I never made the claim that the whole guild absolutely hated her, because I never told everyone she had left - I had elected to keep that a non-topic until it had been fully closed, because I knew from their patterns of behaviour that they can have these blips of panic. I did not fault her, and I explained to those people further into the conversation how and why it happened.

More art requests - this was very clearly a joke, and taken out of context.

Now, for these claims of racism and others. Correct, I did say them, in private games with friends that I had been around for months at this point. Note in the first one that Tiao Lin (Sylvissa) was clearly leading the joke towards what I said, and I just expanded on an edgy joke. There is no hatred, no calling other people these words, nor is there any sort of malicious intent behind it. It’s a joke. By holding these words so high in the realms of taboo, you give them the power behind them. If, at any point, someone mentioned that they were uncomfortable with what I said, I would be more than happy to apologize, and not say it again, which - with another cherry picked screenshot, I did HERE .

For the second member of the Accord that you listed that I was upset about creating alts; they’re still very much in the guild, and we’ve discussed this in length before to ensure that there will be no misconstrued information again - they do not feel wronged. They are wronged however that you, Hu'lon, used them without permission just to push your letter. They used sixty dollars of their own money to boost a character, and when you had finished with them - you blocked them. You made them cry because of your actions. Your entire argument on these things is based on exceptionally out-of-context statements that I’m appalled you think you can spread to other people just to scorn and ruin my guild.

This is laughable ..  Wey is a friend of mine and that is clearly taken out of context once more - and the bottom snippet has never happened. I haven’t run HFC in years; nor have I ever done a commission that had horns in it - and if I had, WMV doesn’t 'not’ export horns. It’s attached to the body model. This is clear and utter bullshit once more just to push an agenda.

Onto the worst, and final point. Hu'lon, you dug through five years of drama and unburied it in an effort to burn me, and my guild down. Yes, I faked having cancer. Five years ago, as a teenager with an undiagnosed mental disorder, which is now diagnosed as BPD - which I also have much more control over, nowadays. The circumstances revolving around this are as follows: I ran a guild called Mistborn, that had around two-hundred to three-hundred members. Due to conspiring between my officers as they found it humorous to antagonize me and make me meltdown; they managed to collapse my guild within a week. At this point, I had never dealt with something this heart-sinking and strenous - my BPD forced me into an absolute panic, and craved for nothing other than emotions of hatred from people. Yes, I claimed that I had cancer in an effort to gain pity, because at this point in my life with my mental disorder - I couldn’t think of anything else. I was in a panic.

Since then, I have apologized to every person that was involved with me, back then. Extrenously. I know that doesn’t make up for it, but I’ve moved on. They’ve moved on. You had one of the officers that -caused- that meltdown tell you that it was not my fault, but you elected to bring this up because you wish to become a martyr for.. whatever cause it is that you’re standing for. I’m not absolving myself because of my mental disorder, but I took every step necessary to cleanse any ill-will that people had from me back then, to which most understood once they heard the full story.

To end this all off, I will summarize. Yes, I had some extrenous issues in the past that have led to the reputation that I have today. I have been working day-in and day-out to attempt to make rights where I made wrongs in the past, but this is stuff from five years ago.

To Tiao Lin - I don’t blame where you stand right now. You’re always welcome to talk to me again, because clearly there is a lack of communication. I understand - you have anxiety. I’ve attempted time and time again to try to help that, but apparently I missed the mark. I’m sorry.

To Hu'lon - I do not respect your attempts to become a martyr to take my guild down. You made claims that you’re hurt that everyone in the guild is turning against you - because you’re making rash decisions that could harm all of us, because of your grudge against one. You never made any attempt to get further information in all of this. You snipped out of context screenshots, and just worked to paint me as the bad guy time and time again. You are the issue with roleplay realms. Instead of discussing and talking like a rational person, you argue with the block and ignore button - without caring about the consequences that come with it, involving multiple people that you USED in these screenshots - and then aim to call me out.

If you read all of this, even if you do not see my side of the argument - I respect you for refusing to listen to blind lies. There will also be follow up posts from people that have known me since back then that -will- discuss in truth what happened, instead of your cherry-picked mess.

Remember when you posted evidence and claimed that I was threatening Wey? Here’s the actual commissioner. Picture 1. Picture 2.

Another commissioner that will happily back-up the fact that I do not do these kinds of things.

Another one. Picture 2.

And when you said I was trying to get free art from you? Here’s another artist in the guild.

And, now statements from my BPD. I asked these people to be absolutely honest about their experiences. These are not hand-picked to try to further my agenda, these are straight from people that have known me for years, and have struggled with my disorder with me.

Picture 1. Picture 2. Picture 3. Picture 4. Picture 5 (very important.) Picture 6. Picture 7.

I’d appreciate it if didn’t bring up stuff you weren’t personally involved to try to bring down me, and my guild from now on. If anybody has an issue with me, you may add me at Zushou#5130 and I will discuss any grievances, hatred, questions, or you can sit there flaming me. Doesn’t matter to me.

#Story #world of warcraft #Moon Guard #submission

[junker-town]

How each NIL bill in Congress will affect student-athletes

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Everything you need to know about the seven NIL bills in Congress

On Monday, the NCAA suffered a huge loss when the Supreme Court ruled 9-0 in favor of former college athletes in a dispute about player compensations. The discussion about compensation for college athletes has been ongoing for years. While that ruling does not allow for student-athletes to be paid for their name, image, and likeness, it does require the NCAA no longer limit the educational-related expenses schools can offer student-athletes. It also declined the NCAA’s request for exemption from the normal operation of antitrust laws, stating that “the NCAA s not above the law.”

The ruling has sparked a larger conversation on if this is the beginning of major changes to the NCAA model and, ultimately, a move towards paying student-athletes. With seven bills covering compensation, and the name, image, and likeness (NIL) of athletes moving through Congress right now, that assumption is not unreasonable. Monday may have been the beginning of a series of losses the NCAA will suffer over the next few years.

Here is an overview of each NIL bill in Congress and how they will positively or negatively affect student-athletes if they are passed.

College Athletes Bill of Rights

The College Athletes Bill of Rights, introduced on Dec. 18, 2020, and sponsored by Sen. Cory A. Booker (D-NJ) and Rep. Janice D. Schakowsky (D-IL-9), is by far the most comprehensive bill covering NIL. If passed, it will radically change the lives of current college athletes, recently ineligible athletes, and graduated athletes.

Pro - Athlete Endorsements: Athletes will be able to take part in endorsement deals with third parties even if they conflict with the deals associated with their schools, as long as the athlete engages in the endorsement outside of mandatory team activities. Also, athletes can specifically wear the footwear of their choice during mandatory team activities. This ruling on footwear is big because it opens up the door to stronger endorsement deals for athletes than any other bill currently working through Congress. The key here is that athletes can pursue endorsements without punishments like losing scholarships or playing time.

Pro - Revenue Sharing: The bill also states that intercollegiate athletic associations will be required to distribute commercial sports revenue royalties to covered college athletes. There is more verbiage in the bill about who is covered athlete and the percentage of the NIL revenue.

Pro - Additional medical expense coverage: In addition, under the commission to be formed after the passing of this bill, there will be a medical trust fund to cover athletes out of pocket expenses relating to sports relating injuries for up to five years after they become ineligible to play. This aspect of the bill will also cover sports-related medical conditions diagnosed after their career, such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), as well as costs associated with second opinions sought after by college athletes.

Pro - Greater rights to educational outcomes: Student-athletes will be able to maintain their scholarship even after their eligibility is complete as long as they keep good academic standing and a GPA over 2.20. In addition, employees and volunteers under the athletic department cannot influence student-athletes on selecting their academic work. Finally, to ensure athletes are given the freedom over their academics, academic advising and tutoring will no longer be in the hands of the athletic department but will be provided by the university.

Now that we’ve covered that bill, the others should be much simpler to get through.

College Athlete Economic Freedom

This bill is moving through the House and Senate and is sponsored by Sen. Christopher Murphy (D-CT) and Rep Lori Trahan (D-MA-3) and was introduced on Feb. 4, 2021.

Pro - NIL rights without changes to grant-in-aid: Grant-in-aid means a scholarship, grant, or other form of financial assistance that is provided by a college or higher education institution to a student-athletes as the pursue their degree.

Con - Eligible entities: Eligible entities for sponsorship are limited to businesses inside the United States.

Amateur Athletes Protection and Compensation Act of 2021

This bill is sponsored by Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) and was introduced to the Senate on Feb. 24, 2021.

Pro - Athlete endorsements to current student-athletes

Pro - Enter the draft and keep eligibility: This allows for athletes to declare for the draft, and as long as they have not received compensation from teams, agents, etc., they will be able to declare their intent to resume participation as a collegiate athlete as long as they notify their university no later than seven days after the draft.

Pro - Providing grant-in-aid to former student-athletes turned pro: This will allow schools to provide full grant-in-aid to athletes who did not complete their undergraduate degree due to pursuing a career in professional sports.

Pro - Additional medical expense coverage: Out of pocket expenses for injuries that came about during their college athletic career will be covered up to the deductible for up to two years after their amateur status has expired. This also includes the cost of seeking second opinions.

Pro - Creation of a corporation: The creation of the Amateur Intercollegiate Athletic Corporation is good because it takes the execution of this bill out of the hands of schools.

Con - Athletic endorsements to recruits: Yes and recruits. Unfortunately, the bill has no explicit rules around at what time during the recruiting process, but for now, I think it’s best to only introduce endorsements to current college athletes. You have to crawl before you walk.

Con - Athletes must provide endorsement documentation: College athletes and recruits will be able to enter into endorsement deals but must provide a copy of the endorsement contract to their university. I see one big problem with this. If the schools are not considered part of the endorsement negotiation, why would athletes be required to provide them with their contracts? To me, it’s like signing a contract with a company and then giving a copy of your contract to a co-worker. No one does that. If the information is provided to a commission that oversees NIL for that specific university, sure, pass over the contract for compliance and transparency. If that is not the case, this is another excuse for schools to dig their hands too far into the pockets and privacy of their athletes.

Student Athlete Level Playing Field Act

This bill is sponsored by Rep Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH16) and was originally introduced on Sep. 24 2020 and again on Apr. 26, 2021.

Pro - Athlete endorsements to current student-athletes

Pro - Creation of a commission: The creation of the Covered Athletic Organization Commission is good because it takes the execution of this bill out of the hands of schools.

Collegiate Athlete Compensation Rights Act

This bill is sponsored by Sen. Roger F. Wicker (R-MS) and was introduced on Dec. 10, 2020.

Pro - Social media compensation: The bill explicitly outlines social media compensation in its language around NIL for student-athletes.

Pro - Protection of athletes from rescission of agreements: If an athlete no longer participates in a college sport, the athlete can rescind a NIL agreement. This is true as long as the remaining term is greater than one year. Canceling the agreement under these terms will ensure the athlete is not be held liable for a contract breach and no obligation to return the payments received before the notice.

Pro - Student-athlete health and safety committee: This committee will develop standards to help prevent serious injury or abuse of student-athletes.

Con - Provided educational resources with respect to covered compensation: This is problematic because all educational resources should be covered regardless of covered compensation, not in consideration of it

Fairness in Collegiate Athletics Act

This bill is sponsored by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and was first introduced to the Senate on June 16, 2021.

Pro - Athlete can receive compensation from a third party

Con - Athlete must report compensation to institution

A bill to establish collective bargaining rights for college athletes, and for other purposes

This bill is sponsored by Sen. Christopher Murphy (D-CT) and Rep Jamaal Bowman (D-NY-16) and was first introduced to the Senate on May 27, 2021, and in the House on Jun. 16, 2021.

Unfortunately, the introduction paperwork of this bill for either the House or Senate was available on congress.gov.

As you can see, all of these NIL bills currently in Congress are working to ensure athletes can be compensated through endorsement deals without interference from their universities. Many of them also allow for athletes to hire proper representation without losing the scholarship or grant-in-aid. With that said, some bills are more comprehensive bills than others. Likewise, some bills have more aspects that benefit athletes than others.

While each of these bills will be refined and negotiated in Congress, there is a lot at stake for both student-athletes and the NCAA. If any of these are passed, they will significantly change the landscape of amateur sports and it is important to know these are pieces of legislation our government is currently refining.

[constructionaccounting]

0413: The Ugly Truth About Doing Your Construction Company Payroll

This Podcast Is Episode Number 413, And It's About The Ugly Truth About Doing Your Construction Company Payroll

Still Doing Your Payroll?

At face value, it seems like a great idea.

  If you're a small construction business owner with just a few employees, you probably think hiring a payroll specialist is an expense that you can avoid. 

  You feel that you can handle it yourself. You have the best intentions to keep your staff paid and on time. What could go wrong, right?

  Well, lots. Here are 3 reasons why you should stop:

  It's a time waster

If you don't have a finance background, you'll likely spend a substantial amount of time calculating employees' work hours, computing for taxes and other deductions, creating payslips, processing, and filing.

Even if you have a bit of a bookkeeping background, are you sure you want to spend your precious time doing these tasks instead of focusing on your construction business's core aspects?

You don't need to study the ins and outs

Sure, you can learn about relevant tax adjustments and benefits procedures if you want to. But then again, you'd be spending more time educating yourself, not to mention the possibility of making costly mistakes. 

On the other hand, a payroll specialist knows the ins and outs of taxes, overtime, contributions, sales commissions, and bonuses. The bottom line is: another professional can do it better, and while they're at it, you can get back to doing what you do best-- like growing your construction business!

It may cost you more to do it yourself

One of the most common mistakes of construction business owners is that they think they're saving money by doing everything on their own. Remember, time is money-- and as mentioned earlier, instead of dedicating your time doing tasks such as payroll, you can spend it more efficiently on business activities that drive profits and growth.

If you get your payroll wrong or fail to do it on time, you can get penalties that are not fun. These are also avoidable if you entrust a payroll specialist.

A Better Approach

If you think hiring a full-time in-house payroll staff is not practical, you can always come to us and let us take care of your payroll. Whether you need weekly, fortnightly, or monthly processing, our team is flexible enough to do it for you. 

When contractors ask us which payroll option we recommend most, often we say Direct Deposit. As usual, the reasons are simple and related to our primary role as "Profit And Growth Specialists For Contractors" and our mission, which helps you - the men and women of the most significant industry on earth - the construction industry, to achieve your definition of success. 

Option 1 - Paper check looks like the least expensive. Calculate payroll, handwrite or print a paycheck, hand it to your employee, and done.

What is the first thing an employee does after getting a paper paycheck? They go to the bank or the check cashing store and get cash!

If they are paid for travel time to and from the job site, they will typically cash their paycheck to the job site or take a break as soon as the bank opens. Having this scenario in mind, there are three costs to consider: 

#1 Travel Time - See What Is Ten Minutes Costing Your Company and multiply by three! Because it will take ten minutes each way to detour to and from the bank or payday advance company plus ten minutes inside the building.

For example, you pay your employee $25.00 per hour, which means every ten minutes of doing personal business on company time costs you $5.94, multiplied by three equals $17.82. If your company earns 10% Net Profit, you need to sell another $178.20 worth of work to compensate for the loss you suffered.

If there is more than one worker in the company vehicle, multiply everything by that number.

#2 Cost Per Mile - To operate the company vehicle, which varies depending on the type of vehicles your company uses. Generally, the numbers we see range from $1.25 to $1.75 per mile. This takes into account Fuel + Insurance + Repairs + Maintenance + Registration + License divided by the number of miles driven. In this example, we estimate a three-mile detour at the middle range of $1.50 per mile = $4.50

#3 Delays On The Job - In construction, you are dealing with project-based systems, not operations or manufacturing-based operations. Every additional day you have to mobilize and de-mobilize costs you money. For example, if it takes (15) minutes for (4) workers to get set up in the morning and the same amount of time at night, your total costs could be $121.92.

Total cost for paper checks - between $15.00 and $50.00 per employee. To get the actual results for your company, some analysis would need to be run, or you would look in your Business Process Management System (BPM) for the answers.

Option 2 - Direct deposit could cost an additional $5.00 per payroll and $0.99 per deposit. Direct deposit drops into your employee's bank account one minute after midnight on the day payroll is due. Having a Professional Bookkeeper prepare the payroll is less with direct deposit because of the time saved in making and printing the paper checks, setting them aside for you to sign them, stuffing them in the envelopes, and taking time to pass them out.

Option 3 - Debit Card is similar to a direct deposit. The difference is that the employee does not need a checking account.

Final thoughts

As payroll experts in the construction industry, we can keep your employees happy with timely and accurate wages, maintain tax compliance, and significantly ease your back office burden. Profitable construction companies have known the value of outsourced bookkeeping services. Remember, you deserve to be wealthy because you add value to other people's lives.

So get in touch with me today and give yourself the peace of mind you deserve!

About The Author:

Sharie DeHart, QPA, is the co-founder of Business Consulting And Accounting in Lynnwood, Washington. She is the leading expert in managing outsourced construction bookkeeping and accounting services companies and cash management accounting for small construction companies across the USA. She encourages Contractors and Construction Company Owners to stay current on their tax obligations and offers insights on how to manage the remaining cash flow to operate and grow their construction company sales and profits so they can put more money in the bank. Call 1-800-361-1770 or [email protected]

Check out this episode about Contractors Marketing - Accounting - Production (M.A.P.)!